


【tomonari】

by Echo (Lyrecho)



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Ensemble Cast, Gen, KH2 AU, NaNoWriMo, NaNoWriMo 2016, Sora & Roxas never merge back together, What-If
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-16
Updated: 2016-12-14
Packaged: 2018-08-31 07:32:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 51,235
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8569705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lyrecho/pseuds/Echo
Summary: Once upon a time, a hero sacrificed himself for a princess.Once upon a time, a princess tried to bring her hero back.Once upon a time, the world's tried to grant the princess her wish, setting into motion a series of events no-one could have predicted.
  "I'm afraid the only real solution is for them both to go away."
Once upon a time, a witch spoke those words, with no idea just how true they would come to be. |Tumblr| |Twitter|





	1. 〚01〛

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to my NaNo2k16 project! With the end of November approaching and that 50k goal in sight, I've decided to start posting this now.
> 
> The story is nowhere near complete, though, and once I've run out of already written chapters I'll just be updating as they come.

Once upon a time, there was a witch.

Now, unlike the title ‘witch’ might lead you to believe, the witch was not a bad person, or even an inherently dark person. Quite the opposite, in fact.

The witch was just sad. Sad…and lonely.

Her creation had been an accident, she knew. She shouldn't exist. She was an aberration, an abnormality, a shadow of a person. In most ways that matter, she wasn't _real_.

But this witch still felt as if she was; even without a heart to guide her she had come from something much purer than most of those that surrounded her - the others like her, the ones athat also shouldn't exist - and from that, she felt, and longed for, something that she could never have.

It was somewhat like a fairytale, really.

_'The hero smiled at the lonely witch even as she held back tears, and extended a hand out to hers, linking their pinkies._

_"It's a promise," he said.'_

The thing about fairytales, though, is that the witch never seems to get a happy ending.

-x-

White.

White walls, white ceiling, white furnishing. If it weren't for the way the neutral shade of it contrasted and brightened the colours on the sketches she had plastered all over the rooms given to her in the old Twilight Town mansion, Namine would quite easily be able to say she was fully sick of seeing that colour. She wasn't sure if either DiZ or Riku had actually thought she'd _liked_ the colour and somehow taken the time to decorate accordingly, or if this was DiZ's passive aggressive way of showing just how much he disliked her continued existence and presence by his side, but whichever it was, the monotony of it, the way it brought to mind horrible, cold memories of Castle Oblivion and all the mistakes she had made there - well, it kept her on course for her target, already delayed too many times over; exactly what the two of them wanted.

And well, she wanted it too - if not for DiZ's revenge or Riku's promises, then her own desire for redemption. Whatever the reason, no matter how misguided she had been a year earlier, there was no excusing the fact that what she had done was wrong.

Which was why she was doing what she was planning now, sneaking behind DiZ's back to integrate herself into the virtual Twilight Town he'd simulated in order to talk to Roxas. In Castle Oblivion, Sora had taught her something, and she wasn't going to make the same mistake twice in a row (let alone with different iterations of the same person). Roxas needed to return to Sora, yes, and preferably as soon as possible - but to use force and trickery to do so was _wrong_ , and after a year spent swimming through Sora's memories, she _knew_ that he would never approve of what DiZ was planning - even _Riku_ had reservations about it, ever since he'd brought Roxas to them, and he had initially been the most enthusiastic of the three of them, focused solely on getting Sora back.

Roxas _deserved_ an explanation, and Namine was _going_ to give it to him.

(- _'namine, would you please watch over roxas once i'm gone?' -_ )

If she didn't -

(- _'all right.'_ -)

\- somehow, she didn't think she'd be able to live with herself.

-x-

Namine didn't fight as Riku tugged her from the simulated Twilight Town. His grip was tight, but not painful - if it had been DiZ, she was sure he would have held her arm tight enough to bruise.

"What are you thinking, Namine?" Riku asked, and it still sent shudders down her spine to hear the voice that haunted - _poisoned_ \- Sora's memories come out of that shadowed hood. "If you taint the simulation-"

"DiZ will be mad?" She broke in. "I have to at least explain some of this to Roxas. He's so confused right now, but if we make him understand that he needs to return to Sora to be whole-"

"Do you really think that the Nobody would listen to you, foolish girl?"

Namine stilled as DiZ's voice echoed into the room, but managed not to show her wince at his presence. Riku sighed, and turning to face him, let go of Namine's arm.

"We all want to be whole," she stated strongly, meeting DiZ's narrowed eye with her own gaze, defiantly. "The whole purpose of the Organization is to gather the member's hearts."

DiZ let out a short, barking laugh. "Oh, I'm sure they want to gather hearts," he said. "But Sora is not a heart for Roxas to claim, but an existence for him to return to. Do you not think, Namine, that there is a difference between the two?"

Confused, Namine tried to puzzle her way through his words, but could not see the issue DiZ was trying to point out.

"Speak plainly, old man," Riku growled, and if there was one thing that deep voice of his was good for, it was sounding threatening. "What do you mean?"

"Nobodies want to be people, according to you," DiZ addressed Namine. "Why would Roxas acquiesce to vanishing into the heart of an already existing one?"

Before Namine could so much as open her mouth to protest - DiZ didn't _understand_ ; he wasn't a Nobody, he _couldn't_ know how it felt - he turned to Riku. "Keep an eye on her," he said. "Make sure she continues to work on Sora - and _do not_ let her gain access into the simulation."

With that, he left, and Namine was left scowling at the door.

"Namine," Riku said, and she jumped. For a moment, it was as if he was assessing her (she couldn't quite tell, with his hood covering the entirety of his face in shadows as deep as night), before he sighed. "You had good intentions," he admitted. "But with Roxas' memories the way they are now, do you really think your words would be of any help or consolation?" His face turned away from her, as if ashamed, and his shoulders slumped. "It's just... I think it's best if we let him enjoy what little time he has left in peace," he said. "He's just a kid. He doesn't need to worry about the inevitable, not when he still has a little bit of summer vacation left."

"But...his summer vacation _is_ nearly over, right?" Namine said quietly. "Please, Riku - if you can't let me talk to him, at least give him a beach?"

There was a moment of silence, a pause as Riku seemed to consider her words, and Namine almost allowed herself to hope. But then, finally, he sighed once more. "I'm sorry, Namine," he said, and his voice was genuinely regretful. "But I can't go against DiZ in this, not any more than you can."

Namine looked down at her feet, not wanting to see the pity written in every line of Riku's body. The floor was white too, and the glistening spots of her tears showed easily on it, sparkling under the harsh, magnified lights overhead.

"Come on," Riku said, and placed a hand gently on her shoulder, tugging her towards the door. "We've both got work to do."

"Mm," she hummed in agreement, wiping her eyes and very deliberately not sniffing. "Take me back to Sora."

-x-

Once upon a time, there was a princess, and she was full of light, the other side of the coin that was the witch.

She, too, was very lonely, and very sad - at first trapped under a curse like most princesses in fairytales, and then rescued by a hero, and sent to a paradise - where she would be safe, until he could come for her.

Perhaps not surprisingly, one of the curses this princess found herself caught under was the fault of the witch, her shadow, whom - lonely and sad as she was - wished for the hero to care for her with the same regard he had shown the princess.

In the end, it was not surprising that the witch felt this way. After all, she was as much a part of the hero as she was the princess, entwined and chained to both their lives equally, irrevocably. And it was from this connection with the hero that the witch's curse could take hold at all, in the first place.

But this is not a story about the witch and her curse.

No, this story, this tale, is about the princess - and the curse _she_ unwittingly inflicted on her hero.

Princesses, you see, are not witches. No matter how pure her heart and intentions, no matter how strong her wishes, how vivid her light or how deep her power and magic, the princess was still a princess, with no idea how to _use_ that light of hers the same way the witch could wield shadows - no idea how to harness that magic.

So when the hero sacrificed himself to darkness for the sake of his princess, and she called out to the light to bring him back -

Well.

It makes sense, doesn't it? That untrained and unknowing as she was, she couldn't bring him back whole?

-x-

_What's going on?_

Sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of Sora's capsule, her back to the door, Namine stilled, her red pencil held poised above the pristine white of the fresh page she had turned to only moments before. Listening, straining her ears as she turned slightly to look at the closed door behind her, Namine wondered just what had set alarm bells ringing off in her head.

There was, of course, every chance that she was simply being paranoid, but... biting her lip, Namine stumbled to her feet, kicking them out, and stamping them against the floor to get blood flowing through them again before the prickling beginnings of pins and needles became something worse.

"Riku?" She called out, knowing that the boy was never too far from Sora when he was within the mansion's walls. She supposed she could simply go and poke her head out the door, if not wander down the hall to see if she could find anything wrong, but... but...

She found herself strangely reluctant to leave Sora's side, as if something terrible would happen the moment he was left alone.

The scent of darkness filled her lungs, choking and horribly familiar, and Namine prepared to scream as a hand extended from the darkness blossoming behind her - _between_ her and Sora, _no!_ \- slapping firmly across her mouth.

"Shh," Riku leant forward to whisper in her ear, and Namine relaxed - slightly.

"What's going on?" She whispered back. No matter her firm desire to kick out at Riku's ankles and scold him for just _grabbing_ her like that, she had enough sense to know now was neither the time nor place. "No - what's gone _wrong?_ "

"The Organization," Riku breathed, and Namine could only hear him because of how close his lips were to her ear. "They've found us."

A flash of fear ran through Namine, and she found her eyes drawn to Sora, suspended peacefully in sleep, his hair ruffling gently with the air being circulated through his pod. "Are they here for Roxas, do you think?"

"Probably," Riku said, seeming to think she'd calmed down her racing heart enough not to make noise, because he set her down, and stepped back from her slightly. "If they get him back, we won't get a chance to get him a second time."

A hollow cold nestled itself somewhere inside Namine's chest. "He won't be able to return to Sora."

Riku gave a short, sharp nod. "DiZ is distracting the members here as well as he can - leading them on a bit of a goose chase. But, well - we're not actually sure how many of them _are_ here, and not only can they move through the darkness, they have command of the lesser Nobodies." He looked at her, completely serious, for once not angling his face in a way that made it impossible to see his features. Namine had seen that face enough times in Sora's memories, felt the emotions of anger and fear connected to it so deeply that she couldn't help but flinch a bit at the fact that Ansem was so close to her - but those eyes, even gold, were purely Riku's, with concern shining through them, concern for her, and for his best friend.

"What do you need me to do?" She asked seriously. "We can't move Sora - he can't handle the darkness like you can, and we can't take him out of the pod, not yet."

"And it would take too long to move the pod itself manually." Riku sighed. "Namine, I'm sorry, - but we _need_ Sora to wake up, now."

She stiffened. "But, he needs to be unconscious for Roxas to be reintegrated, and he-" she cut herself off, realising what the apology in Riku's eyes meant. "Oh," she said. "That's why you're here, isn't it? So you can tell me to get things ready for Roxas."

Briefly, Riku closed his eyes. "For what it's worth, I don't want this," he said quietly. "And if there was another way - _any_ other way - I'd probably be quite happy to help you with it."

"But there isn't another way." Namine nodded. "And we're out of time." She met Riku's gaze once more, and smiled with a bitter determination. "Go get Roxas," she said firmly. "We'll be ready for you when you get back." And, with a sparking swirl of acrid darkness, Riku did exactly that.

"Okay," she said, turning to Sora. "I can do this. _We_ can do this."

There were still some pieces of Sora's memories she hadn't full slotted back into their rightful place in the chain that made them all up, leery of doing so before she could link them with the pieces of memory that Roxas held, nestled and buried deep within him - but they could be dealt with later. For now, Sora had all the memories he needed to function and fight, and to recognise his friends, which was all that really mattered at a time like this -

Her eyes widened. His _friends_.

Namine bit her lip. It was unlikely that the Organization had made it this far into the mansion, considering she had yet to hear anything out of the ordinary approaching her - just the usual buzz and hum of DiZ computer equipment - but Donald and Goofy were _right there_ , just down the hall, and if the Organization happened to chance upon them, if they breached up to this wing...

A voice in the back of her mind reminded her not to do anything stupid. Her priority was Sora, after all, since he was the one in the most precarious situation, and if she left him alone now, even for one single second, it would simply be testing fate - and she was smarter than that. She shot a glance to where Sora's pod was, nodding to herself. Donald and Goofy would hold until they had Sora awake, and she had Riku to guard her back while she woke them up.

For now, she had a job to do. Ever since her...creation... her power had answered to her, easily, but it had always been simpler to focus amidst the onslaught of Sora's memories if she used her sketches as medium - particularly since Roxas' perspective and own memories had been added into the mix, as if she was trying to watch two tv channels simultaneously, an eye on each one. For that brief period in Castle Oblivion, where they had both been conscious, she'd been convinced her head would explode at times, the only respite that Roxas, at the time, had been blank enough as a person that the emotions that bled through him _now_ hadn't been present. The sketches helped keep that all under control, compartmentalising everything into a neat and orderly fashion she could deal with at her own pace, but the fact of it was she didn't _need_ them to tug on Sora's heart and memories.

 _Sora,_ she called out softly, working her way through all his thoughts that lurked just under the surface of his mind, his subconscious dreams and wonderings - her voice resonating its way down his chain of memories, down to his heart, where his mind resided. _Time to wake up_.

A faint murmur responded to her, a flickering life beginning to stir, and Namine retreated. She'd brought Sora closer to the surface, pulled him out of the deep dive into his heart he had been in for over a year, protecting even the most precious memories she hadn't been able to take from him, but that was all she would do for now. Too much, too fast, and she could damage him, like she had overwhelmed the replica, back in Castle Oblivion, tearing through his mind all at once with a command that had shredded all he was, all the chains of lies she had locked around his heart. This way, too, it would be gentler on both Sora and herself when his heart pulled Roxas back into him - while it would be slower, taking more time than even Namine herself would have liked, it would also be safer.

Well, relatively safer, considering the Organization was crawling through the building.

Impatiently, unsettled, Namine fidgeted beside the pod, glancing periodically at the door as she fought the urge to pace. Of an unusually calm demeanour and disposition she may be, even she had her limits, and one more thing Castle Oblivion had shown to her was that she didn't handle physical situations very well. Riku had long since taught her how to throw a punch without breaking her hand in the process, but his fighting style and affinity for darkness were ultimately just too different from her base nature for her to learn very much from, and the members of the Organization were on an entirely different level than she could ever hope to approach.

Her mind, having been pretty much the only part of her body to gain any significant exercise over the past year, began to work in over time – running through best and worst case scenarios, because she couldn’t _not_ think on it.

The best worst case scenario would be Demyx, probably. He’d never liked fighting, and from what she'd gathered from Roxas' memories, he’d always been friendly with pretty much everyone – if he was the one to walk through the doors, Namine should’ve been able to talk him down easily enough, or at least managed to stall until Riku did arrive on scene. And, after that… Axel? She wasn’t too sure on that one; he may have been one of the kinder Nobodies to don the coat, but when it came to him and Roxas and Sora, there were too many variables – she couldn’t be sure of his response. What if he thought the best way to keep Roxas safe was to get rid of Sora permanently?

It was as she was biting down on her lip, worrying at a piece of peeling skin with her teeth, that she heard it.

Footsteps.

She froze. Riku wouldn’t risk walking back through the mansion’s halls – not even with Roxas in his arms, mostly unprotected from the darkness, especially with his memories erased. So, whoever it was approaching her now, making no effort towards stealth – wasn’t Riku. Likely, wasn’t a friend.

Fear flashed through her as the door swung open; her trembling body froze as her blood ran cold as ice when she saw who stepped into the room.

"Little witch," Xemnas said, and his eyes – so similar in colour and shape to Riku’s – shone with a gleeful malice. "We’ve been looking for you." His gaze travelled behind her, to rest upon Sora, and the terror humming through her only intensified as Xemnas laughed.

-x-

Roxas had always made things difficult, in Riku’s experience – needlessly overcomplicating _everything_ with his very existence.

Well. That wasn’t _quite_ true – but right now, with gritted teeth and a headache beginning to knock at his skull, annoyed beyond anything he’d ever felt before, Roxas was just _very aggravating_.

He was still unconscious, lying limp and still in Riku’s arms as he skulked his way through the halls of the mansion, trying to reconnoitre the situation as much as he could before he absolutely _had_ to open up a dark pathway back to Namine – which he supposed was a good thing; if Roxas had been awake, Riku had no doubt that the Nobody’s first move would have been to attack him, even without recognizing just who he was – he’d had a stressful few days, after all.

However, the downside of his continued sleep, brought upon him by Namine's unsettling ability to meddle with Sora and the hearts of those connected to him - was that he couldn't help Riku in a fight with the Organization if it came down to that; was in fact dead weight, literally.

So far, Riku had managed to place exactly one member of the Organization - the tenth member, Luxord - scattered around the lower floors of the mansion and tracking their way through DiZ's various false trails. However, that left the some of the members he was concerned about the most unaccounted for - namely, Axel, who while not being the strongest of the Organization, was definitely the most potentially terrifying - at least when it came to Roxas, and his appearances within the simulation throughout the past few days _proved_ he was lurking around somewhere.

Taking in a deep breath, deciding that he'd waited long enough and that it was highly unlikely anyone was going to pass through the hall where he was standing, pressed into the shadows along the wall, Riku raised one hand, and felt the cool power of darkness well up within him, flooding over his fingers like a mirage of smoke as it whirled into a passage just large enough for him to pass through with his burden of Roxas.

He stepped swiftly into the pathway he'd opened up, making sure to tug on the darkness in order to pull the portal shut behind him. The paths, after all, weren't an instantaneous method of travel - rather, they opened into the darkness and shadows that ran alongside what DiZ called the Lanes Between - a way to travel through worlds easily, he'd said, if one was willing and able to risk their lives against the darkness. This meant, of course, that he could encounter anyone while in this shadowy nexus, so there was really no point in making it even more obvious where he was by leaving the 'door' wide open behind him.

Riku had just begun to walk, allowing his feet to take him in the direction his heart told him Namine was, knowing that with just a few more steps he'd be at the point where opening a path back to Twilight Town would end up with him right beside her, when he felt the atmosphere around him shiver, the acrid smell of the shadow Lanes thickening like smoke.

A real denizen of the darkness had entered this realm, then - not merely someone who had darkness in their heart and wielded it, like Riku did - but a creature born of the darkness, with no heart - no light at all - to balance it out.

A Nobody. And probably one of the Organization, unless any more humanoid ones were somehow lurking about - the paths didn't react like this for just the ordinary shells known as Nobodies; Riku knew this from experience.

"Well, hi," the smirk on Axel's face was more than just a quirk of his lips - it was a glint in his eyes; the cock of his head. "Fancy meeting you here."

The words themselves weren't precisely threatening, or even intimidating - out of context, they'd probably even seem friendly. But there was malice in the tone, a heated anger building up as the Nobody spoke, his eyes fixed on what Riku held clutched to his side with one arm - Roxas, still unconscious.

Wordlessly, Riku called Soul Eater to his hand, holding it out point first in Axel's direction but making no move to attack. The redhead was volatile, true, but if past encounters (let alone the past week) had proved anything, it was that he was reluctant to hurt Roxas, meaning he probably wouldn't go crazy so long as he was held up literally right against Riku. No point in risking antagonizing him to the point where he felt that even Roxas wasn't worth the bother.

"Axel," he said. "What do you want?"

Sighing, Axel shook his head. "Well, right now? I kind of want you to put Roxas down."

Riku barked out a short laugh. "So you can run off with him?" He adjusted his grip on his sword, shifting his weight so it spread out more evenly; solidifying his centre of gravity. "I don't think so. Sora needs Roxas to wake up, so don't think I'm just going to let you take him back to the Organization."

Axel, who had begun to sink into his own battle-ready position, arms out and fingers splayed as if ready to summon his chakrams, paused at this, straightening up into a vulnerable, unwary position that made Riku hesitate as the Nobody stared at him with wide eyes, seemingly torn between confused disbelief, and hysterical laughter.

"You think we're here for _Roxas?_ " He laughed, waving a hand in the air. "Oh, boy. No. No, we're not here for _him_ ," he jerked his chin at the blonde still held in Riku's arms. "He already left the Organization once, of his own volition, back when he _had_ his memories. Roxas..." Axel faltered. "Roxas wouldn't want to stay, even if we took him back; even if the Superior accepted him back." He shrugged. "I want you to let Roxas go, so I can get him somewhere safe before the others realise he's still here, and come after him - with a vengeance."

"You're lying," Riku accused. "If you're not here for Roxas, then why?"

Even as he spoke the words, a deep foreboding began to creep upon him, like the bitter chill of winter's first cold snap. Axel must have read the dawning realisation in his eyes, because he nodded solemnly.

"Yeah, that's pretty much it," he admitted freely. "So why don't you hand Roxas over to me, and then run along to save Sora?"

-x-

Namine shuddered, instinctively stumbling a few steps back as Xemnas stepped closer, her body moving without conscious permission - her bone deep fear its own input. More disturbing, though, then the closeness of Xemnas' presence - is the way he pays her no attention, gaze roving over Sora as if reading him down to his soul.

"He is stirring," Xemnas said, and Namine flinched as he turned to look at her. "Is that your doing, little witch?"

She trembled, and nodded, knowing that there is no point in lying to Xemnas. "He won't wake up," she said. "Not until Roxas is with him again." There was defiance in her words, hidden subtly beneath the terror plain in her tone, but she was sure Xemnas picked up on it.

"Hmm," The leader of the Organization hummed, tilting his head consideringly as he once more glanced at Sora. "Roxas," he said, and there was a thoughtful lilt to his voice. "Why do I get the feeling that you are lying to me, Namine?"

The sound of her name, spoken by that man with his voice, was awful. She'd come up with it herself, before the Organization had found her - and while it still might connect her to Kairi in its own way, the blatant lack of the sigil Xemnas so favoured in the Nobodies he claimed as his own and renamed in a twisted mockery of their original selves - it had marked her as outsider and _different_ to the others in the Organization. It had been so clearly a spiteful, disrespectful move towards Xemnas that she refused to take the name he offered her - Akxiri - nor wore the dark cloak the Organization claimed as their signature. In fact, she'd started wearing white in pure defiance, not because she _liked_ the pale colour.

Her name was a weapon in Xemnas' mouth; he spoke it like it was poison and the daggers hidden in each syllable found their target as she shrunk in on herself.

Xemnas' smile widened. "He won't wake on his own; not without Roxas," he said. "But Namine, _you_ can wake him up, can you not?"

A whimper broke out of her throat as she hastily glanced away, knowing even as she turned her face from Xemnas' all-seeing gaze that she'd already given herself away.

"Don't worry so much, little witch," Xemnas laughed. "I have no intention of waking the little hero - not yet, anyway."

And, once he'd spoken those words, he stepped away from Namine, leaving the blonde girl confused and unable to do anything as he raised a hand, the weight in the air intensifying, growing to a point far beyond oppressive -

\- and the thick, durable glass Sora was sheltered in _crumpled_.

Xemnas frowned, and made a sharp gesture with one hand once more, even as Namine gasped - breaking out of her stupor and running forward to _stop_ him, somehow, _she had to_ -

With a discordantly beautiful, musical sound - crystalline tinkling as the shards splintered and fell to the ground - the pod Sora had been in, been kept _safe_ in, the shelter DiZ and Namine had worked to upkeep for over a year - broke apart, falling in pieces to the ground near instantaneously as Sora, inside, fell with them - landing among the broken shards with a force and abruptness that made Namine flinch and rush forward, even as Xemnas stepped up right beside her.

She reached for Sora, not even truly noticing the glass that crunched under her feet and stabbed up through the thin soles of her sandals as little more than background annoyance - jerking back hurriedly as Xemnas' arm brushed against hers; he too had reached out for Sora with both his arms, crouched down beside his still, limp form.

She was frozen, half collapsed against the ground in her scramble to get _away_ from the man, being stabbed and prodded by shards of glass as Xemnas carefully turned Sora over, running one hand across his face to brush away fragments of glass – crystalline powder clinging to the cuffs of his sleeves as he wiped it from Sora’s hairline and eyelashes – before cradling his arms around Sora and lifting him up, glancing to Namine as he straightened.

There was a faint trail of blood making its way down Sora’s forehead, smudged from where Xemnas’ sleeves had trailed into it, and Namine felt the cold fear within her splinter, transforming into something more heated – she was still scared, of course; she was terrified, _Xemnas was terrifying_ – but now, she was mad, too. The red trickling its way down Sora’s face eclipsed her vision until all she saw _was_ red, and the only thing that kept her from leaping at Xemnas was that very terror he inspired in her, running soul deep and undeniable.

She gritted her teeth, hands fisting at her sides, and Xemnas smirked – as if he knew what she was thinking.

"Namine," he said, and shifted, as if to adjust Sora’s weight better as his head lolled to one side. "You’re coming with us."

All things considered, there was really only one action for Namine to take. Taking in a deep breath, she prayed Riku was in a place he could hear her – she’d even take DiZ, if the man would care enough to show up; after all, he _had_ sent her to watch over Sora – and screamed.


	2. 〚02〛

Riku had _just_ phased back into the reality that made up Twilight Town, shifting down from the Path he’d opened up earlier, not yet at Namine but desperate to get away from Axel (who was _right_ behind him, because the Nobody did not _know when to give up_ ), still clutching Roxas to his chest, when he heard it.

Namine. She was screaming.

Panic flooded through Riku for a moment – Axel was right, had been telling the truth, he needed to _run_ – and his first instinct was to let Roxas fall to the floor and bolt for the chamber that both Namine and Sora had been hidden away in, but that initial burst of panic was brief, and he quickly kicked his brain into gear.

He was outnumbered – well. He didn’t know just how badly he was outnumbered, and there was every chance that Axel, while not aiding him, wouldn’t stand in his way, either, considering how he was simply standing by Riku’s side with a smirk that said he knew he was about to get exactly what he wanted – but he _was_ outnumbered, was the thing, and very, _very_ badly. With Sora on the line, he couldn’t afford to mess it up because his stupid, hot-head hadn’t learned anything in the past year.

So, he took a deep breath, and made a decision that – while sending every nerve ending he had into a twitching, screaming frenzy – was realistically the best one he could have made. "Here," he said, and handed Roxas to Axel, who tried but failed to express surprise. "Get him out of here, keep him safe, whatever." He glared at the Organization member. "I _will_ be coming back for him."

Axel laughed, looking a bit too smug for Riku to feel comforted. "Oh, I’m sure you will," he said, grinning. "I look forward to it." Around their feet, darkness pooled, and Axel’s last words came through warped, echoing. "I’ll see you around, _kid_."

That… could have been very stupid. Probably _was_ very stupid.

… Oh well. What’s done is done, and there was nothing Riku could do to stop it now – real life had no take backs, and he wasn’t going to kid himself; Axel was already _long_ gone. More importantly, Namine's screams - which he had noted in the back of his mind didn't sound like screams of pain or fear; more _here I am, come help me out_ (which would draw Riku and DiZ to her, sure, but also any Organization members that happened to be in hearing distance; Namine wouldn't risk that - risk Sora - unless she was really in trouble) - had started to die off, as if she'd given up wailing for breathing. Like she needed to be able to run unhindered.

It wasn't a nice thought, and Riku didn't want to risk traversing a Path of Darkness to reach her - whoever was causing her to scream, likely a Nobody, would definitely sense it, and then he would lose absolutely any semblance of surprise when he made his attack - so instead he sprinted through the halls in the direction of Sora's chamber, barely even noticing the lesser Nobodies he slashed through as he ran past them.

_From above!_

His mind screamed danger at him, and he jerked back just in time to miss being riddled with a volley of bullets shaped like darts, knives - glowing red and vicious, looking intrinsically menacing enough to send a skitter of unease even down Riku's spine.

"Well, I'll be!" A voice called out from above - the direction the bullets had come from. Glancing quickly that way, turning so his back was no longer to the shooter, Riku took in a wide grin and one burning yellow eye. "I heard you were good, but I honestly didn't expect you to be able to dodge _my_ bullets." The man shrugged, and Riku tensed further as he raised his arm - cocking his gun once more in Riku's direction.

"Don't worry about it!" The shooter reassured, squinting with his one good eye, as if trying to pinpoint Riku's exact position. "I'll make sure not to underestimate you again."

-x-

When Riku didn't come, Namine told herself not to worry too much. Panic was the enemy, fear was the enemy, and Xemnas hadn't even made a move to stop her from screaming.

He was just... standing there. Holding Sora, and standing there, a wicked grin on his face as he watched her scream her lungs out. Eventually, she trailed off - his silence, his stillness, were disconcerting.

"Are you done?" Xemnas asked once she fell silent. "It should be clear to you, Namine - no-one is coming for you." His eyes narrowed. "It would be in your best interests to stop this foolish defiance now, and come along willingly."

"Willingly?" Namine chanced the risk of earning Xemnas' ire (he'd always _hated_ being questioned) in order to - maybe - gain some knowledge.

"Only you can awaken Sora," Xemnas said, and with a gesture, summoned up a Dark Path. "Either you will come with me willingly now, or I will _drag_ you to The World That Never Was."

Namine swallowed. There was a vicious sort of glee in Xemnas' voice, faint though it was, like he was waiting for her to choose option two. She hesitated, trying to look as if she was considering her options when all she was really doing was stalling for time in the hopes that either Riku or DiZ would show up before Xemnas grew impatient with her inaction and followed through on his threat - when she felt it.

Namine's special power, something no other Nobody had, something that made her different, an outlier - was her connection to Sora, and through him, those who's bonds were entrenched deeply into his heart. And, regardless of the fact that they had never met face to face, you didn't get much more deeply connected than being different facets of the same being. Through Sora, the connection she felt to Roxas was one neither she nor Sora shared with any other - not Kairi, not Riku, or any of the friends Sora had made since landing in Traverse Town, in that time that felt so long ago.

And that connection to Roxas, the thrum of him in the background of her mind for days, weeks, now, in that one, slumped over position by DiZ's equipment - it was moving, shifting - phasing through the Darkness. She would have said that was good, but...

It wasn't coming towards her. Was, in fact, moving _away_ from her. Riku would have rushed to her as soon as he managed to collect Roxas. Out of the people gathered here in the mansion - however many there were - Namine could say with certainty that none of the three that could be trusted with Roxas, for Sora's sake, would chance moving the two so far from on another, especially while they were under attack - only a member of the Organization would flee the mansion with him in their arms.

It was a chilling realisation, ice splintering through her like the glass shattered around her feet. _The Organization has Roxas_.

Xemnas showed no reaction to what she had felt - of course not, intimately connected to the Darkness or no, not even a Nobody as powerful as he was could feel a path open from so far away, the only reason Namine had sensed it being her unique connection to Sora. However, he had definitely seen the despair briefly flicker through her eyes, because a small smirk played around his lips.

"Come, Namine," he commanded. "Whether you come along willingly or not, I _will_ be taking Sora." His tone took on a sort of mocking pity. "And you would follow him always, wouldn't you? Even at the cost of your own existence."

Namine gritted her teeth, but did not rise to the bait.

Riku was - indisposed, probably, if one of the Organization had gained Roxas (he wasn't dead, couldn't be dead, Riku was too strong for that, she told herself desperately); DiZ, likely had been too far away to even hear her screams - the truth was a hard, bitter pill to swallow down, but Namine faced reality, and did exactly that.

She was on her own. No-one was going to barge through those doors, beat down Xemnas and pull Sora (still sleeping, with a peaceful expression on his face - no idea of the horrors that were to come) safely from his arms.

 _She_ was alone, but Sora didn't have to be - _wouldn't_ be; so long as she existed she would stand by his side.

So she stepped forward, staring down at her feet as Xemnas placed one hand on her shoulder, and told her she was making the right decision.

There was, after all, still something she could do, even as powerless as she was - even as small and unlikely to help as the action itself was.

She gathered all the appropriate memories and emotions within her, and then - reached out along the spider-web threads that made up her connections to Sora's most important, precious people - sparked a connection between that bundle of memories and the mind of the one she had reached out for - linked back together a chain that she should have never broken in the first place, with a few new links forged in, for good measure.

Xemnas made a displeased sound, and paused as they stepped into the cold, almost liquid fog that curled around the portal, and Namine froze - had he somehow figured out what she'd done?

Thankfully, Xemnas saw nothing wrong with her squeaking and stilling the way she had, seemingly taking her terror around him for a given. He reached up to grasp around Sora's neck, and for one brief, panicked (and confused) moment, Namine thought he was going to snap his neck.

Instead, Xemnas' hand came away from Sora's _hood_ , cupped around -

Namine's mind stopped. Rebooted. Jiminy had been in Sora's hood this _whole time?_ She shook herself. It didn't matter. What mattered was -

\- A frown playing across his face, Xemnas closed his hand, and Namine couldn't help it - she gasped in horror. Xemnas payed her no attention, flinging the crushed body of the cricket away, where it landed among the largest collection of shards on the floor, where the base of the pod still stood mostly intact.

Before Namine had so much as a chance to process what had just happened, or even _react_ , Xemnas grip re-established itself on her shoulder, even tighter than before -

\- and then she was flying; floating, falling, as Xemnas flung her into the Darkness.

-x-

When Roxas awoke, it was all at once. There was no steady incline from sleep to wake – one moment all was black, and the next he’d head-butted Axel as he jerked up in his arms.

"Oof," Axel grunted, and staggered back a few steps. "Morning, princess." There was a surprised light in Axel’s eyes as he grinned down at him, and Roxas briefly wondered at the shadows that had sunken in beneath them, marring the older man's face.

His first, most honest instinct was to scowl at his friend, had he _still_ not learned how much he _hated_ stupid nicknames – but then his brain, at least half a mile behind the rest of him in the consciousness department, caught up to the current situation he found himself in, and then he couldn’t shove the redhead away from him fast enough.

Axel let out a cut-off yelp as Roxas – smaller and stockier, but still strong and fast and _vicious_ – drove an elbow into his throat, wide open and vulnerable above him; pushed out of Axel’s arms and rolled into a ball to absorb the shock of the fall with a swift, double booted _kick_.

He’d – he’d been in Twilight Town, hadn't he? With Hayner and Pence and Olette - but no, none of that had been real, had it? Just an illusion to keep him docile and placated, before _they_ shredded his existence and fed the broken down remnants back into the original, to make _him_ whole once again.

Roxas felt his lips twist into a snarl, and he didn’t even care if Axel thought the expression was directed at him – he had plenty of rage for his old friend, too. No need to be _sparing_ with it.

Probably picking up on his mood, and his rising desire for violence, Axel eased slowly up into a standing position from where Roxas’ attack had knocked him down, hands cautiously raised in what could either be a gesture of surrender, or a way for Axel to summon bursts of fire faster.

"Well, can’t say I expected _this_ ," Axel muttered, frowning slightly and looking at him with a tilted head.

"Expected _what?_ " Roxas snapped, because his head was pounding and he could _feel_ himself slowly acclimatising all the memories that Namine must have reinstalled inside his head and it _hurt_ ; it burned and stabbed and _screamed_ like nothing Roxas had ever felt before – even the terrifying, visceral sensation of being trapped, being crushed by tangible darkness, all the breath forced out of you, blood rushing to the surface and bones groaning in protest as they almost gave way beneath pressure could _never_ match the pain he was feeling. An intimate, soul deep pain, as his own memories were as weapons against him.

"This hostility," Axel said. "You _do_ know what I saved you from back there, right?" He frowned. "Or has Namine been messing with your head?" He stepped forward, and tugged Roxas’ face up by the chin, looked him directly in the face. "She did, didn’t she? Roxas – just how much do you remember?"

A flash of surprisingly brutal anger flared through him, and he jerked his away from where they were connected.

"Everything," he said hollowly, and noticed for the first time that he wasn’t in the clothes he had grown used to in Twilight Town, but the Organization cloak he had so come to loath. "I remember _everything_."

-x-

Once upon a time, there was a mirror.

It was silver and pure. It reflected faithfully and truly, shining always back at the one that stood before it their own image. People smiled before the mirror. People frowned, cried before the mirror - and the mirror showed them this.

Then, one day, a woman came to stand before the mirror. She frowned, and the mirror reflected the lines that tugged on her face.

"Aren't you tired of it?" The woman asked.

The mirror was shocked; no-one had ever spoken to it before. No-one had ever even tried. "Tired of what?" It asked the woman curiously, in her own image.

The woman leaned forward, so her nose was nearly to the silvered glass, and then, eye to eye, both she and her reflection smiled. "Tired of being a liar," she said.

On the mirror's surface, a crack formed. It was a small, barely there fracture, a mar on the otherwise perfect surface – but it was there nonetheless.

"...Liar?" The mirror said. "I am a mirror. I cannot lie."

"You reflect the truth of the body," the woman said. "You show the lies that mask the truth of the heart." Her smile widened. The mirror’s did too.

"See?" she laughed, and flicked a finger out to tap against the mirror's surface. "You're lying again, straight to my face."

The crack splintered larger as the mirror paused, confused. "I don't understand," it said.

"Of course you don't." The woman's words were gentle, pitying. "You're only a mirror, after all - a fake, you only show the truths that run skin deep."

"The truth is the truth," the mirror insisted. "No matter how shallow; I do not lie."

"Maybe not," the woman allowed. "Maybe you only aid others in lying to their own hearts." Her palm laid flat against the glass of the mirror, and her reflection reciprocated, pressing its hand against the image of hers. "In the end, it doesn't really matter," she sighed. "A harsh truth is always better than a gentle lie."

The crack had become a spider web, and now the woman's reflection was splintered, looking over her with an image of a thousand betrayed eyes. "Why?" the mirror asked. "I only ever gave the people what they asked of me. I only ever gave them what they wanted."

"And you did an admirable job of that," the woman said. "But people can't always get what they want. It's time to rid the world of your gentle lies, and give them back the _truth_ that they need."

The story ends there. There are many endings that follow the last passage, thought up by many different people, over many ages. Scholars and children and parents, all arguing over which ending is the truth, over which viewpoint is better - over what the moral of the story was.

The truth of it, really, is that there is no moral, no big answer. A story is a story, nothing more and nothing less - and whether or not that story is true, well, that's all up to those who hear it, now isn't it?

But if given the choice, which is it that you would choose to take?

The gentle lie, or the harsh truth?


	3. 〚03〛

The World That Never Was was much the same as Namine remembered it, second-hand from Roxas' memories. She'd never been to the Nobody world herself, not in person - locked away in Castle Oblivion from the moment Xemnas had found her, confused and scared at Hollow Bastion.

To her mild surprise, the portal Xemnas had opened did not lead straight into the Castle That Never Was, but rather one of the backstreets that were scattered across the sprawling, patchwork ghost city that clustered around the heart of the Organization's safe haven - fragmented pieces of worlds fallen to the Darkness that had made their way here, one way or another, to form a dark and silent metropolis, the city reflecting the nature of the people that called it 'home' - empty, always yearning to be made whole again.

Riku had found his way here, once, she knew - it was how he had managed to catch Roxas in the first place. But this world was like Twilight Town, Traverse Town, a liminal space, a nexus connecting one place to another; except not, because those worlds actually existed. This Nobody home world was a physical dreamscape at best, and without Namine guiding Riku by linking to Roxas - he would never find his way back here.

She walked silently, docilely, by Xemnas' side. He still held Sora, and therefore all the cards - she would not risk angering him. "What is it you want me to do?" She asked quietly, as the entrance to the castle loomed before them.

"How much of his memory have you repaired?" Xemnas asked in return, and Namine blinked at the query.

"Almost all of it," she answered honestly, seeing no reason to risk angering him by lying for something so small, so seemingly insignificant.

"Almost?"

"The memories that Roxas held; I hadn't thought it necessary to give those links back when he would gain them naturally once they were mended."

Xemnas laughed. " _Mended_ ," he said. "A pretty word, to hide just how desperate you were to get the _Keyblade Master_ ," his voice twisted the title into something crude, sarcastic, and Namine had never heard that kind of tone in Xemnas' voice before; the man was normally unflappable, "back and whole once more." He shook his head. "Desperate enough to erase two lives. For Riku, I could see it - the boy is confused, fighting against and welcoming darkness in equal measure; his entire being is split. And that old man - he hates us, purely and strongly. Likely, he never saw either of them as anything but obstacles. But you? You, Namine, I would have expected more kindness from."

Namine blinked, pausing at the brightly lit stairs that led up past the entrance hall and into the castle proper. "Kindness?" She parroted back. "Two? I - I don't understand."

It was hard to admit that, especially since it now put her firmly under Xemnas' control; with him leading the conversation and their direction, but something about his mannerisms had made a sinking pit form in her gut, and her palms sweat as she gaze up at him, already stairs above and ahead of her, not bothering to stop for her sake.

"You mean you hadn't figured it out?" He called down. "And when you should know better than anybody, for _shame_ , Namine." He grinned at her over his shoulders, a quick glance back. "You didn't _really_ think this boy was Sora, now did you?"

-x-

The fight against the shooter, was, quite honestly, a blur. Riku never even managed to get an attack in, as far as he could recall between the flashing red lights of the bullets coming at him - it was all he could do to bring Soul Eater up in time to deflect them. And, after he'd recovered enough to gain his bearings, blinking away the violet-red afterimages the volleys of bullets burned into his retinas had created, it was just in time to see that the Nobody was gone - as if he'd never been there in the first place, only the lingering taste of darkness stroking the back of Riku's tongue and throat proof that he truly had.

He felt his lips curl into a snarl. _Damn_ the Organization. Every time he thought they had finally managed to gain some ground, finally managed to secure at least one little victory - the Nobodies appeared to kick him back into the dirt, point and laugh, and then vanish before he could even think of retaliating. It was frustrating like he couldn't believe, and his emotions were a mix of worry and annoyance as he raced down the halls to reach his original destination - Namine, and by extension, Sora.

But by the time he reached his destination, he was already too late.

They were gone, the room empty of anything but shattered glass, and Riku let out a yell of frustration as he yanked his hood down, pulling it away from his face as he ran a hand over his eyes. "Dammit," he snarled, and kicked out and a particularly large shard of what had once been Sora's pod that was lying by his feet.

"The Organization has them, then."

The voice came from behind Riku, the doorway, and he didn't even bother to turn in acknowledgement.

"What do we do now, DiZ?" He snapped out. "What would they even _want_ Sora for? It's not like he's going to help them."

He glared over his shoulder at DiZ as he said this, and the older man stepped further into the room, his one visible eye narrowing as he navigated through the glass. "Namine was taken also," he observed. "Likely, they will have her manipulate Sora through his memories, as was their original plan in Castle Oblivion."

Riku scoffed. "Oh, come on," he said. "They already tried that once, and it failed," he reminded DiZ. "And besides, Namine would never help the Organization."

"You are being naive!" DiZ's voice was sharp, cutting, and as he spoke he flung out one hand in a sharp gesture of agitation. "Think of it not in terms of how willing Namine is to aid her fellow Nobodies, but rather how desperate she is to not have Sora come to harm!" DiZ sighed, his eye closing briefly as he pinched the bridge of his nose, as if a pressure headache had begun to form. "Namine may _wish_ for the side of light to win against whatever the Organization is planning, but she is nothing if not practical. And while her unique creation makes her a very _special_ Nobody, she still is exactly that, and is thus an inherently selfish creature. She wants to redeem herself for her actions in Castle Oblivion, and to that end has devoted herself to making Sora safe and whole." He fixed a burning glare on Riku. "So tell me, Riku - in what world would she not do as the Organization demands of her to keep the two of them safe?"

Fidgeting uneasily, trying not show just how uncertain those blunt words made him, Riku desperately tried to think of an answer to DiZ's question that would not condemn Namine - all the while making _sure_ not to break eye-contact with him.

It was then, during that tense and ever lengthening silence, that Riku managed to - very faintly - pick up sounds coming from the floor, in the very centre of the room. And, as much as he hated to admit it; if it hadn't been for the uncomfortable quiet that echoed DiZ's words and presence, he may never have heard it.

May never have heard the soft, crystalline chinking of glass shifting against tile.

He jerked, eyes widening, and turned his gaze downward, searching.

"Can you hear that?" He asked DiZ distractedly, cutting off the questions that were likely forthcoming as to why he was acting as he was.

"...Hear what?" DiZ said finally, moving further into the room, giving a cursory glance to the floor Riku's sight was thoroughly roving over.

"Something's in the glass," Riku said grimly. "And it's alive - alive and moving."

DiZ blinked, before looking down with new interest, nudging glass into piles with his feet as he moved through the room. "Ah - Riku, here," he said, and crouched down, an urgency in his tone as he stood back up, hands cupped together; holding something.

Riku stared as he registered what rested in DiZ's grasp - that small cricket guy that had been with Sora when he travelled; Maleficent had mentioned him to Riku initially and later the King had elaborated more - his name was Jiminy, he was some sort of record keeper for the history of the worlds, currently under the employ and care of Mickey's home world.

"What?" He said. "Jiminy - what is he doing here?" Guiltily, it occurred to him only now that he hadn't seen nor thought of Sora's fourth travelling companion, not since Namine had placed all of them in pods for safekeeping while they slept.

"Namine did say that he had often taken refuge within Sora's hood while they travelled," DiZ reminded him. "It was remiss of us not to even consider his presence." He stepped forward until he and Riku stood side by side, and in unison they looked down at Jiminy's somewhat worse for wear form.

"What do you think happened to him?" Riku asked, flicking a look up to gaze around the room, trying to build a picture of what could have _possibly_ happened here - after all, the room had been kept empty except for pod and podium where Sora had rested and thus the only sign of a struggle was the glass scattered everywhere - hardly a telling clue, except perhaps for that fact that the glass the pod had been made of was thick and nigh unbreakable, meaning either magic or tremendous force had been applied.

"Likely, he was discovered," DiZ said, still staring down at Jiminy, who was moving slightly and slowly, still mostly unconscious; dazed and probably hurting. "Whichever member of the Organization found their way here, they clearly only wanted Sora and Namine. It doesn't surprise me that they left Jiminy behind once they'd found him - it does, however, surprise me greatly that they left him alive."

"They probably thought they _had_ killed him," Riku pointed out reasonably. "I mean, look at him. Just being thrown into some broken glass, or moving around in it, doesn't cause that kind of damage. It's more like he's been crushed."

DiZ hummed. "We should relocate," he said. "If we are to question Jiminy for whatever information he may offer us, we will need to have him healed, and I'm fairly certain neither of us hold the expertise needed to restore this damage." His one visible eye was piercing as it narrowed on Riku. "The Organization has already come here once, and though they gained their objective, that is no guarantee that they will not return. Twilight Town is no longer safe for us to remain in."

"Where will we go?" Riku said, one hand rising up to finger the thick material of his hood. Wherever it was they ended up moving to, he would more than likely have to keep his face hidden - unfortunately, Ansem's face was _very_ \- entirely too much so for Riku to feel comfortable - recognisable.

Admittedly, not many people outside of the few remaining stragglers of Maleficent's 'inner circle' (i.e. her pawns) knew just _what_ Ansem had looked like - or what he had looked like, but it was always, _always_ , better to be safe than sorry.

(Riku hated how he looked, how it was a constant reminder of the darkness that had taken root in his heart, the darkness he had allowed to bloom and flourish - all out of a selfish desire to keep up with Sora, to outpace Sora when his friend was growing so much in strength and wisdom - growing in leaps and bounds, leaving him behind when all throughout their lives it had forever been the other way. But mostly, the thing that disturbed him about the face he now wore wasn't how it was proof of just how corrupted he had become - no, it was much more personal than that.

Sora, and Kairi - what would they think when they saw him like this, when they saw him wearing the body of the man - the darkness - that had hurt and taunted them so badly. _How_ would they look at him? And would they look at all? Or would they avert their gazes, not wanting Riku to see the horror in their eyes while simultaneously not wanting to face the reality that would stare them in the face: their friend, a monster.

A small voice in the back of his head that sounded almost disturbingly like Sora whispered that he was being stupid, that the both of them loved him for his heart, not his face, which was stupid anyway - but he squashed it down viciously.)

It was as DiZ was humming thoughtfully, still looking over Jiminy while gently using one finger to inspect the movement range of the cricket's limbs, that the last voice Riku had ever expected to hear again spoke up from the doorway behind him - and it was only that very surprise that kept him from calling for Soul Eater.

"We need to go to Hollow Bastion," Roxas said, and the fury on his face - while controlled - was pretty much entirely directed at Riku, whose hands twitched with the desire to arm himself from the attack he was sure was coming as he whirled to face his best friend's Nobody.

"Roxas," DiZ said, and his voice was stern. "What are you doing here?"

"What am I doing _awake_ , you mean?" Nothing of Roxas' features truly resembled Sora's, with the exception of his eyes - but just like their identical counterparts, those eyes were very much the window to Roxas' soul - and it was strangely chilling to see those eyes, so familiar, filled with such rage and hate, placed on a face twisted in such an ugly sneer.

DiZ sighed, closing his eyes briefly. "Namine," he said, in an exasperated manner, as if she was the answer to everything and the world was worse off for it. "She woke you, I suppose?"

"And returned my memories," Roxas said - evidently furious at them beyond belief, but apparently willing to co-operate, at least for the time being. "I suppose I should thank her, even if she _was_ the one who took them from me in the first place." Even if the words themselves were kind, his tone was acidly sarcastic.

“But…why are you _here_?” Riku tried to understand. “Why would you come back here? Axel –”

“Axel isn’t here,” Roxas said bluntly. “When I told him I was coming back here he left. And I’m here because I want to be.”

“And why do you want to be?” DiZ said, his tone suspicious. “Your attitude makes it hard for me to believe you would come into our company willingly.”

“Well, that _would_ be a change, now wouldn’t it?” Roxas said. “And I’m here to help – sort of. I’m not helping _you_. I’m helping Sora, and Namine.” He crossed his arms over his chest as he said that, staring them both down defiantly, never mind that he was about half of Riku’s current height. “Sora has friends in Hollow Bastion that can help Jiminy –” he jerked his chin at the cricket still moving feebly in DiZ’s grasp “– and could probably help with hunting down wherever the World That Never Was is.”

Riku gritted his teeth. Nope, even when awake, he still didn’t like Roxas. “You’re a Nobody,” he said. “And Namine gave you your memory back. You should _know_ where to find the World That Never Was.”

Roxas shrugged. “Namine only found it before because I knew where it was,” he said, “but the location isn’t fixed. Once she wiped my memory and you guys held me _captive_ , there was no way I’d ever be able to get back there without being _escorted_ there – that’s a fact, one that even restoring my memories can’t change.”

Riku closed his eyes briefly, a headache beginning to pound at his temples. “Of course it can’t,” he muttered, before opening his eyes. “Well, then, why are you here?”

Roxas scowled at him. “Like I said, I’m here to help.”

A bitter, short laugh escaped Riku. "Sure you are," he said. "When have _you_ ever helped _anything?_ "

He was, perhaps, being unfair to Roxas - but dammit, he was _angry_ , and he had every right to be. It should have been over, Maleficent was gone, _Ansem_ was gone, and it _should have been over_. And yet, somehow, it wasn't and it was Sora - _Sora_ , who didn't deserve any of... _this_ , of the misfortune Riku's stupidity had brought upon his best friends - who was suffering for it.

And Roxas was just the living, breathing embodiment of that fact - of Riku's failure.

Something flashed through Roxas' eyes, blue and so like Sora's, at those words, but beyond a tightening of his jaw, he didn't react at all. "I'm _trying_ to be civil," he said quietly. "And _I've_ never done anything to you, so the least you could do is _attempt_ to extend that same courtesy."

Riku had to admit that was a fair point, as much as he disliked it - but before he could voice his (reluctant, grudging) agreement, DiZ - who had been standing to the side, watching closely and observing their conversation silently - spoke up.

"How would you know of Sora's friends in Hollow Bastion?" He asked. "Just what did that girl slip into your head?"

Roxas shrugged. "Pretty much whatever she could, or anything she thought was important, at least," he said. "Or, that's what it _feels_ like." The words were accented with a wince. "I've got all of my own memories back, but I've also got a whole bunch of Sora's - I think she was trying to make me understand what the lot of you were trying to do, and, well, it sort of worked." A vicious grin. "I understand that whenever we get Sora back, he's not going to be very, uh, how should I put this? _Happy_ with you."

Well, no - of course not, Riku knew that, accepted that, but something about the way Roxas all but sneered it... He narrowed his eyes. "What are you saying?" He asked suspiciously, only to be ignored, and then cut-off - by DiZ.

"Now is not the time!" He snapped, and both Riku and Roxas flinched to attention at his sharp, cutting tone. "You must leave for Hollow Bastion at once. There is no telling how much time Jiminy will have left without proper medical care."

"What about you?" Riku broke in. "Don't think I didn't notice you exclude yourself from our travel party, old man. Where - _exactly_ \- are you going?"

DiZ's gaze as he stared at him was indecipherable. "You will take Goofy and Donald with you," he said finally. "Even without Namine, I can manage awakening them, and they will likely be of great help to the two of you." Stepping forward, he handed Jiminy to Roxas as he brushed past the Nobody without so much as a glance, moving out into the hall where the pods of Sora's friends rested.

Roxas glared at DiZ as the man stepped past him, but the moment he was out of sight, the Nobody had switched a wild-eyed, pale stare to the small and broken body now lying limp in the palm of his hand.

"Um," he said, and it was almost painful how easy it was to see that he really _was_ not even a full year old, the confusion and naive innocence apparent in his voice and manner not fitting with the venom he had shown when he'd first entered the room.

"C'mon," Riku sighed. "DiZ is right. We need to move, and fast."

-x-

There was a world, one among many that Namine had paid very close attention to the mythology of. It was a world that Sora had visited many times - she had seen his frequent trips to the tournaments held at the coliseum with a smile always on her face. Sora had loved Olympus, more so than many of the other worlds he had encountered. He was, after all, both a warrior and a child at heart - he loved the fight, breathed it, but _battle_ wasn't appealing to him. The life and death struggle he'd found himself in as a child forced to grow up far too fast was something he longed to turn from; just as he wanted so, _so_ very much to bring balance and light back to the realms before returning to the Destiny Islands where Kairi awaited them, with Riku in tow. It just wasn't fun to him, like fighting with Riku and his friends had been on the Destiny Islands. It was duty, and like a blade duty could - and _would_ \- cut. For as long as he held the Keyblade, he was destined to a life of battle, and that _hurt_.

But the coliseum at Olympus had been different, somehow. Fights there - even when dangerous, even with high stakes - were fun, at least when compared to the confusion Riku's actions in Maleficent’s service brought about, and the worry for Kairi that was his constant companion, even more so than either Goofy or Donald.

Sora was, for the most part, an incredibly cheerful and optimistic young man. Far more so than Roxas (especially near the end, those last few months spent in the Organizations company), being in his mind was almost soothing. There were dark memories, of course - memories of pain and a deep, ugly rage that Namine always shied away from, instead seeking shelter in those lighter memories, Sora's joy radiating through a refuge to her. And she couldn't lie - those worlds that brought Sora such simple joy, reminiscent of childhood memories spent on the salt-white and sky-blue shores of the Destiny Islands were intriguing to her, and DiZ's library was always _full_ of all kinds of knowledge.

The myths of Olympus had been one of the first things she had stumbled upon.

The tale of the three elder brothers, of how Hades had become ruler of the Underworld in the first place. Pages and pages dedicated to legends of mortal heroes - some the children of gods, some not. The muses, who gifted artists with inspiration for their chosen medium.

Namine could see facets of herself in most of the stories, small lines or characters she could empathise, resonate with - and perhaps most of all, the tale of Aphrodite and said goddess’s birth.

She wasn't conceited enough to consider herself a goddess of love or beauty, or on the same level as such a being - but like her, Aphrodite had been born of a fluke, an accident, created by a clash of sky and sea.

And, like her, Aphrodite had never seemed to know when to leave well enough _alone_.

The goddess had been a meddler in the worst way, always playing at manipulation for the sake of what she had called 'love.' Namine's motivations had never been so noble (for a given value of the term) - they had been purely selfish, and born out of fear.

She'd wanted to redeem herself - had spent the past year doing nothing but that, wanting so desperately to fix what she had broken, undo the wrongs she had made - but now - but now -

Now, she was back to square one, further even - not only was she trapped once more, but this time Sora was with her, pawn and ace both held firmly in the Organization's grasp.

Xemnas didn't want Sora to have his memory back. Wanted to use him, and though it hurt her heart and tore at her soul, Namine had gritted her teeth and quietly agreed. The two of them couldn't escape, not just yet - they were watched far too closely, and neither of them had the necessary skills or equipment to leave the World That Never Was in the first place. Their only hope for freedom from the Organization (beyond the obvious of Riku, somehow, rescuing them - Namine could only hope and pray that all she had given over to Roxas would give him inclination to lend a hand) was to lull them into a false sense of security, of complacency, via co-operation.

Xemnas would never fall for it, she knew, and Xigbar and Luxord were always suspicious of _everyone_ , including other members of the Organization and their leader - but, when it came down to it, the greatest threat to this plan was Saix. She didn't know much about the Nobody who acted as Xemnas' proxy frequently - while she had encountered Xemnas shortly after her creation in Hollow Bastion, and the others in the Organization had come and gone from Castle Oblivion, the only way she knew Saix was through Roxas' memories.

Saix had _terrified_ Roxas - or, at least, that was what he had labelled it after he had gained enough awareness to put name to what he was feeling; to her it felt like ice cold _horror_ , Roxas somehow managing to pick up on the fact that there was something deeply wrong with the de facto leader of Xemnas' 'ground troops.'

(It was the eyes, she thought. Something about those _eyes_.)

If Namine let Sora keep his memories, their only hope would be to _act_ as if he didn't have them...something she wasn't quite sure Sora was capable of in the first place, never mind the fact that she was about one hundred percent certain that Saix would see right through it with those eyes of his.

And...if Xemnas was right, if he had been telling the truth earlier, and not simply trying to make Namine doubt herself - doubt Sora - then - then...

She shook her head, dislodging all those dark thoughts that had somehow crawled their way into her mind. It didn't matter, she told herself. _It didn't matter_.

But even though she had conceded to Xemnas' wishes when the man had led them to a room, high up in the castle (with white walls and white furnishings, _of course_ ) before placing Sora down on the bed with strict orders as to what, exactly, Namine was expected to do, she hadn't _erased_ his memory - a whole years’ worth of work - simply removed a single link from the chain, one that could be connected easily enough, given the right triggers.

Of course, getting the triggers, the catalysts, in place would probably be a bit more difficult than Namine would like, but the point was that Sora would not _lose_ his memories as Xemnas wanted, not in the most technical sense. They were, after all, still there, just out of reach. A small, petty victory, and one that she could never boast about, but a victory nonetheless, and it brought a smile to her face.

That smile faded, though, when she thought about the other orders Xemnas had given to her.

He had to know how to fight, how to summon his Keyblade and cast magic; had to know how to function in daily life, how to read and speak and do arithmetic, and it was _scary_ that Xemnas had felt the need to specify that. Xemnas wanted Sora, but not like Marluxia had wanted Sora at Castle Oblivion. Marluxia had wanted Sora the way he had been when he had fought against Ansem and Maleficent, since it was that strength that had drawn him to the idea of using the Keyblade Master in the first place, just twisted and distorted enough that he would be unbreakably, fanatically loyal to Namine - whom Marluxia had thought he'd had complete control over (and really, he had).

Xemnas didn't want that. He wanted Sora, but only in the aspect that Sora wielded the Keyblade. If it had been Riku instead, that might not have changed his plans any. He'd been perfectly content to use Roxas until he had deserted, at least, and she might not have had any real idea of what Xemnas wanted a Keyblade wielder for, but she knew that it was far from personal. As long as whoever was holding the Keyblade functioned as they were meant to; as a Keyblade wielder, he would be perfectly content. The only problem with Sora, as far as he could see, was his memory - a problem that could be solved easily, then, with a complete lack thereof.

The only thing, in the end, that Xemnas had allowed Sora to keep was his name.

_We have no need for another Roxas_ , he had smirked. _I suppose he can keep the name for now_.

It was with that parting shot that he had left, the door clicking shut behind him. Namine hadn't even bothered leaving her seat beside the bed Sora rested on to check whether they were locked in or not - she knew that they weren't. Xemnas was confident in his ability to keep them trapped here without the need for such mundane means, and he wasn't wrong to think like that.

Namine sighed, and reached forward to gently push stray hair out of Sora's face, where it had fallen into his eyes. Sora's nose scrunched at her light touch, and she knew he was very close to awakening, his rest now more a natural sleep than the deep coma it had been for the past year.

It had been hard to see while he had been kept enclosed within the pod, but Sora had grown quite a bit while he slept. He was taller, limbs now long enough that his clothes were visibly too small for him, and probably quite uncomfortable. His hair had lengthened as well, long enough to brush against his shoulders if not for the spikes it formed.

Physically, he should be fine, that was the whole point of keeping him in the pod while he slept - so his muscles didn't atrophy; but mentally? She wasn't too sure. His memory had been tweaked, likely far more than was healthy, and if what Xemnas had said was true...

She sighed, and her hand trailed down, away from where it hovered over Sora's eyes to press down on the pillow he rested on, right beside his head. Xemnas, for some reason, had been kind enough to provide Sora with bedding, and it was with a bitter laugh and clenched fists that Namine wondered if the same courtesy would be extended to her, or if - after she had fulfilled her purpose - she would be thrown be thrown into the soundless prison she _knew_ was located here, somewhere, kept alive only as insurance to make sure Sora stayed under control. After all, even her power wasn't absolute, nor permanent, and Xemnas was smart enough to know that, given enough time, Riku and Kairi at the very least would return to Sora's memories - because even had she wanted to, Namine would not be able to erase the two of them from his heart.

For a brief moment, Namine considered waking him up right then. His slumber was still deep enough that just touching him wouldn't pull him to awareness, but with just a brush against his consciousness Namine could manage it - and even if Sora no longer remembered her, just having him by her side would be immensely comforting.

She'd always been lonely, but never before had that sensation translated to terror as it did now. She hated white walls, hated what they reminded her of, what they would always represent to her (a prison) - and these particular walls seemed steeped with a malignance that was almost... _sentient_. The Castle That Never Was was, after all, an amalgamation of different places, fallen worlds, pulled together and managed by the Organization, responding to their will. And, Nobody or not, Namine couldn't claim that same power or protection. She was, quite literally, in enemy territory, and her only ally wouldn't even know who she was once he opened his eyes.

In the end, after considering the pros and cons of waking Sora up while biting at the nail on her thumb, Namine decided that it was probably best to just let it be, for now. There was no telling how Xemnas - or whoever it was that was watching over them, because she wasn't foolish enough to believe that he had left them _completely_ alone and unattended - would react to her bringing Sora back to the land of the living while it was just the two of them in the room.

And so, biting at her lip and fighting back tears, Namine drew her legs up, hugged her knees to her chest, and curled up awkwardly in the chair by the head of Sora's bed - determined to get at least a few hours’ sleep.

_Maybe tomorrow will be better_ , she thought.


	4. 〚04〛

Goofy kept sending worried glances behind them, in the direction of the seats behind the controls of the gummi ship, where Roxas and Riku sat, bickering quietly with one another.

“Focus,” Donald snapped at him, as he looked back for the third time in as many minutes. “As long as they’re not actually killing each other, they’re fine.”

Goofy turned to him, a worried look in his eyes. “Gee, you really think so?” He asked.

No, Donald didn’t, actually. He was still absolutely confused by what they had been told when they’d awoken from a sleep he didn’t remember entering – the last thing he remembered was following after Sora when the boy had taken off after Pluto with a shout; he’d been told that was to be expected, as Namine (another blank in his mind) had messed with his memory.

He didn’t understand why, exactly, Riku acted more like the boy Sora had told them about but _looked_ like Ansem, or why the boy with Sora’s eyes – Roxas, whom they called Sora’s ‘Nobody,’ (whatever that was) knew both he and Goofy so well. So no, he didn’t think it was okay or ‘fine’ that the two people who actually knew what was going on were at each other’s throats, regardless of whether or not they had resorted to violence yet – but for right now, adding themselves into the mix wouldn’t be good for anyone. If Sora had been one of the kids they were dealing with, then – maybe. He knew them, respected them, and could appreciate that they gave good advice; but Riku and Roxas were different, not just in that they didn’t know them, but in the fact that they had vastly different temperaments to Sora. If either Donald or Goofy tried to interject, it would just be seen as unwelcome interference, and, mortal enemies or not, the two boys would band together against them. It was basic psychology – the ‘us vs. them’ mentality of children against adults.

“If I didn’t think so, I wouldn’t say so,” Donald said with his arms crossed, rather than divulge any of his thoughts to his long-time friend, wanting him to focus on keeping their course straight. “But this ship _does_ run on happy faces, you know!” He yelled over his shoulder, ignoring the burning glares he could feel fixate on the back of his chair as the boys turned their ire towards him.

Goofy let out a small chuckle, and turned his attention to the sonar screen. “Not many Heartless ships,” he said. “I’m not complaining, because we need to get Jiminy help as soon as possible, but…doesn’t it seem a bit weird to you?”

Donald shrugged. “We’ve been unconscious for a year,” he reminded his friend. “And before that, Sora and the King had locked the door to darkness. This amount of Heartless could be perfectly normal.”

“No,” Riku spoke up then, from directly behind Donald, a frown in his voice as he peered down at the readings over Donald’s shoulder, who yelped at his sudden appearance. “This isn’t normal at all.”

“What do you think you’re doing?” Donald shook a fist at Riku. “No standing while in transit! Go sit back down and strap yourself in!”

Donald couldn’t really tell, as most of Riku’s face was shadowed by the hood he wore and he was tall enough that he towered over Donald, but he thought that the kid might have rolled his eyes.

“There should be more Heartless,” Riku said. “I don’t use a gummi ship to travel, so I don’t know anything about Heartless _ships_ , but I can tell you that the amount of Heartless in the lanes between the worlds hasn’t really decreased any – not many people travel from other worlds, after all.”

“So… what?” Roxas’ voice echoed up from behind them, and when Donald glanced back, he was reclining lazily in his chair, his body slumped in a position that was eerily reminiscent of how Sora lounged about the ship when he wasn’t the one driving or in the navigator’s seat. Donald froze as this thought hit him, and as if sensing his eyes on him, Roxas flicked a look his way, meeting his eyes directly before going pale and staring down at the floor instead. “There would only be less Heartless if someone was getting rid of them is basically what you’re saying, right? And… isn’t that a _good_ thing? Less Heartless to worry about, I mean?” His voice was quieter now, that earlier carelessness gone from his tone – his body language as well, all of it, becoming subdued.

Riku gave him a brief look over his shoulder as if taking in the sudden mood shift Roxas had undergone, before summarily dismissing both it and him. “Not necessarily,” he said. “I mean, the Organization used to send you on extermination missions, right? In fact, most of what you did were extermination missions.” His voice sharpened. “Do you know why?”

“Oh, how could I forget, you’re my own personal stalker,” Roxas muttered. “No, I don’t know why. I didn’t question it, and I didn’t care. And besides, it’s not like I was doing anything _wrong_. In what world is killing Heartless a bad thing?”

As Goofy sighed, and Riku’s body tensed, as if bracing for another round of arguing with Roxas, Donald turned that information over in his mind. One of the first things mentioned briefly (and then not explained) upon his awakening was this ‘Organization,’ a group formed of whatever these Nobodies were, and they were the ones that had taken Sora while they slept. That was all he knew about them so far – Riku had promised a more in-depth explanation at a later date, but they hadn’t had the time to talk in those first, frantic moments of awareness. Jiminy was gravely injured, and Sora was gone, but there was no time to get to the ‘whys’ of the situation – not when whatever the Ansem look-alike that had turned out to be Riku (and Donald _was_ sorry for the thunder spell that even now had Riku’s hair in a static frizz) called the Organization could be back at any minute, and they definitely did not want to chance that.

_Just get to Hollow Bastion_ , Donald told himself, leaning back over the control panel to keep close watch of their soundings – even if there weren’t very many Heartless ships, that didn’t mean they wouldn’t attack – and doing his level best not to let the stare down between Riku and Roxas drive him to insanity. _Once we’re there – then we plan_.

-x-

When Namine awoke, it was to a stiff neck and one more person in the room then there had been when she had closed her eyes.

Or, well, half of a person. The Organization’s number nine, Demyx, leant up against the wall beside the doorway to the room, hummed under his breath absentmindedly.

He froze when he saw Namine looking his way.

“Uh, hi,” he said, and grinned somewhat stiffly at her. When she didn’t respond, he let out an awkward laugh.

Slowly, Namine uncurled from her position on her chair, never taking her eyes from Demyx. He seemed friendly, and Roxas’ memories confirmed that he was, at least to a certain point, genuinely nice – but Roxas had been a member of the Organization, whereas for the entirety of her short life Namine had been nothing but a prisoner – and she knew something about just how disarmingly charming the Nobodies of the Organization could be when they wanted to. If Demyx was in this room, it wasn’t because he was feeling lonely or wanted a chat – it was because he was their warden, guarantee and reminder sent directly by Xemnas so she wouldn’t forget what would happen should she make an attempt at escape.

Her spine felt like she’d tried to bend it over backwards at some point during her rest, but she paid the ache no mind as she turned her attention to Sora after making certain that Demyx would not move from his position by the door.

His breathing was deep and easy, like it had been when she had dozed off, but instead of lying prone on his back, still and immovable as he had been since he had gone under, he was now lying curled on his side - his back to the wall, his face turned into the pillow; at some point during the night he had slipped under the quilt on the bed and was now burrowed in it, having pulled it up to his neck.

It was a cute picture - an adorable one, really - but that wasn't what made Namine's breath catch audibly in her throat.

Demyx yelped. "Ah - er, what is it? Is he like, okay?" He let out the weak laugh Namine was becoming sure was a nervous tic of his. "Because if he isn't, the Superior will totally kill me, you know?"

Namine ignored Demyx, entirely focused on Sora - because that one small thing, that blanket tucked and held tightly around his shoulders, was proof of consciousness rising to the forefront of his mind; proof that soon he would wake without any help or nudging from Namine, which...shouldn't be possible, not really, considering his sleep was far from natural in the first place - but was also relieving, because it meant that sleeping for a year while his memories were twisted and returned and then taken again hadn't had any negative effects, or at least not any permanent ones.

Holding back the urge to start sobbing with relief as a weight she hadn't even realised she was carrying around vanished, Namine ducked her head briefly in thanks, surreptitiously wiping away the tears that had formed without her permission in the corners of her eyes.

"Um?" Demyx said, uncertainty in his tone, and Namine jumped about a foot in the air, whirling in her seat to face him with wide eyes.

He was wearing an Organization cloak, of course - even if here, in the World That Never Was, the risk of being corrupted by darkness was entirely void, as this non-world was an existence outside of the realms of both light and darkness, a world not aligned to either extreme but rather a world holding the attribute of 'nothingness' - but it was undone, and hanging off his shoulder in a careless way that made Namine think he either wasn't taking this whole guard duty thing seriously, or he only felt the need to dress neatly when representing the Organization off homeworld; he was wearing a pair of worn jeans and a plain blue t-shirt that had Namine blinking at how... _regular_ it was. Take away the coat, and you'd have any regular human boy in his late teens, ready for a summer afternoon, just hanging out - and his mannerisms didn't really help with dispelling that idea any.

She narrowed her eyes at him. Roxas' observations of the number nine hadn't suggested to her that Demyx was in any way capable of deception, but even if _he_ wasn't, the only reason she could think of that Xemnas would send this particular Organization member to watch over her and Sora was to disarm her - for whatever twisted reason his twisted mind had told him was necessary.

“He’s fine,” she said shortly. “What does Xemnas want me to do now?” Her tone was blunt, cold – and gratifyingly, Demyx flinched at how casually she used Xemnas’ name.

Furtively, shoulders hunched, he glanced around before locking eyes with her, his face pale and his expression uncertain.

“You’re…Namine, right?” He asked her, and his gaze was just as wary as hers was. “Why did you leave?” There was an innocent sort of curiosity – confusion – in his voice, and Namine felt her breath catch in her throat as she remembered – a lot of the members of the Organization weren’t doing what they were doing because they _wanted_ to hurt people – but because they wanted their hearts back, and in the meanwhile their lack of hearts made it so that they couldn’t see anything wrong with cutting down whomever got in their way. It was something that had incensed both Riku and DiZ, how Xemnas was gathering up the empty shells of strong willed people as cogs, mere pawns in his plan – whatever said plan was – simply because they would see no reason not to obey him, not when he could give them the one thing they wanted when no-one else could.

But what that fact meant was that a lot of the members of the Organization never even thought of leaving after they had settled in. Even Marluxia and Larxene at Castle Oblivion, even Vexen, always ridiculed by the others – they had never given consideration to the idea of turning their backs on Xemnas’ Organization and throwing off the coat; no, they had attempted to take the Organization for their own. For the Nobodies – for her very own kind – the Organization wasn’t the danger it was to Riku, or DiZ, or Sora or the worlds. It was a place where they could find some small modicum of safety or belonging, and unlike Roxas (born under the same special circumstances she was) whom had had no memory of his life before he’d lost his heart, as his heart was still held by his original rather than the Heartless, the others in the Organization could all recall their human lives, and _chose_ to stay with the Organization.

Maybe it was because their worlds had not simply been attacked by Heartless but had fallen to darkness. Maybe it was because their lack of hearts – lack of sentimentality – meant they saw no reason to return to their homeworld if it happened to still be there. Maybe it was because the Organization had been the first place many of them knew after their awakening as a new being, and habit kept them there.

Whatever the reason was, Namine knew Demyx’s question had come because he honestly didn’t understand why she would leave – after all, she was a Nobody, automatically making her public enemy number one to anyone in the know, so why would she so willingly place herself in danger? That’s not what Nobodies did. Nobodies, being unable to truly feel emotion without hearts, were creatures of the mind and logic. Logic insisted that the most important thing in existence was one’s own survival, and thus banding together with other Nobodies was smart, because at least then any betrayals would come from some sort of personal slight, rather than the irrationality of the emotions of those with hearts.

On the reverse, siding against the Organization with people who had hearts – people whom could never understand them and would seek to stop them – wasn’t smart, not really. And Namine had never really considered herself a member of the Organization – their prisoner, maybe, but not one of them – had even gone out of her way to make it clear as much as she could that she stood outside of them; wearing white, choosing her own name, never fighting for the sake of the orders Saix gave in the place of Xemnas. And once it had become clear that she wouldn’t change her mind on those matters, Xemnas had had her confined permanently to Castle Oblivion (though she had spent most of her life there, she knew he had hoped that he would be able to one day move her to the World That Never Was, to keep her even more firmly under his thumb) with Marluxia as her watcher – a man he’d known she wouldn’t risk crossing, even if his loyalty to Xemnas himself was lacking.

But while that was true, Xemnas had needed to present a unified front, and the little blonde witch in the secondary base was perhaps the worst kept open secret in the Organization. Even if she wasn’t talked about, she was known, and in a very fleeting sense had been one of them. But then she had left, and the members assigned to Castle Oblivion had been wiped out, and then Roxas had deserted; Xemnas’ façade of unity shattered.

And now, curiosity, questions – one of the few things that Xemnas (or at the very least Saix) had most likely discouraged among the remaining members of the Organization – that had probably been forming in the backs of the minds of some of the lesser members for a while (maybe even since Castle Oblivion) had a place to seek answers.

Her.

Namine felt her body tense. Demyx had never been one of the members at risk of betraying Xemnas’ Organization, but if Namine answered his question – which she was nearly one hundred percent certain was asked out of genuine curiosity, nothing else – with even just _one_ wrong word, there was no telling what Xemnas would do to her, because out of the three people in the room, she was the most disposable, the one with the least value.

“I… _left_ ,” she said finally, “because I needed to look after him.” Without any input from her, her gaze flicked over to rest on Sora, and from the corner of her eye, saw Demyx nod once, a thoughtful expression on his face.

“Yeah, they said he was important,” he said, his tone and manner openly friendly, which only served to press Namine’s nerves even close to the edge. “He’s Roxas, right?”

Namine, already tense, felt her body stiffen to the point that she almost thought her bones would snap. “Sora,” she said. “His name is Sora.”

A flash of confusion made its way across Demyx’ face, but he didn’t give her any response other than a nod, and as they fell once more back into silence, Namine found herself puzzling through Demyx’s words.

_They said he was important_.

It wasn’t so much the words themselves that had caught Namine’s attention – of course Sora was important to Xemnas, she _knew_ that – but the way he had phrased them.

She’d said, _I left to look after Sora_.

Demyx had said, _they said he was important_.

The two were random sentences, seemingly with no connection – unless something about what she had said had clicked something into place for Demyx, especially since now, leaning back up against the wall, humming a tune she didn’t recognise under his breath absently – the number nine seemed far more relaxed then he had been when she’d first woken up.

Xemnas was trying to play it off – the fact that she’d left with Riku and DiZ, and with Sora in tow – trying to play it off by making it seem as if he’d intended for it to happen all along, as if the whole act of her ‘desertion’ was with the intent of bringing Sora back here.

She gritted her teeth as the realisation hit, but didn’t speak out against what Demyx thought was the truth – whatever faint trust that false idea would give her was a leverage she couldn’t give up easily, no matter how sour that decision tasted as it settled inside her.

She huffed out a breath, crossed her arms and stared at Sora, still snuggled deeply underneath the blanket that was as white as everything else in the room – including the cheap wooden chair she was perched on, painted and varnished over with its own coat of white. As if sensing her gaze on him, a crease formed between his brows before smoothing out, a mumble of something nonsensical being murmured out as his head turned and shifted in his sleep.

“You think he’ll wake up soon?” Demyx’s voice was curious, and came suddenly – loudly – enough that Namine flinched.

“…Probably,” she said finally, after a moment’s hesitation.

He hissed out a breath through his teeth, and whirled to face the door. “Don’t move,” he said as he pulled the door open, giving her an almost bizarrely stern look over his shoulder. “The Superior will want to be here when he does.”

-x-

Kairi had absolutely no idea what she was doing. The sun had all but set, the final rays of the day sinking down below the horizon line painting dark waves with navy and gold, and she should have been home hours ago - but somehow, some _why_ , her feet had drawn her here, to a small, battered dock with an equally small and battered boat tied to it, hidden well from view by the cliffs that formed the cove at this end of Kismet Key - one of the larger islands in the Destiny archipelago, the one that most commerce came out of and was populated pretty much all year round by locals, unlike some of the other islands that were busy with tourists only in summer and then all but dead for the rest of the year, or the littler islands (some no bigger than sandbars) that were uninhabited completely.

Kairi herself didn't live on Kismet - having been adopted by the mayor of the Destiny Islands after washing up on the shores of one of the unnamed islets scattered around the archipelago as a kid, she lived closer to the centre mass of islands, on the tip of the peninsula of the Isle of Serendipity - and had never actually visited it for any significant amount of time, at least not in her memory; Selphie, Wakka and Tidus all lived near each other on Fortuna Cay, and that one boy that had played with them when they were little, she couldn't remember well enough to know where he had lived - but she was sure it hadn't been Kismet.

But then why had she come here?

Paying no mind to the water that swelled around her ankles, then to her knees, finally coming to rest at mind-thigh as her skirt trailed across the surface of the waves, Kairi threw her bag as far up on the beach as she could, and stepped into the water the dock stood over, wading out carefully to the boat rocking gently as the tide came in.

"Who do you belong to?" She wondered, her hands tightly gripping the wooden frame of the boat as she looked it over, hoping for a name or a sign or - something. Something to explain the melancholia she was feeling.

She cast her mind back, thought hard - she'd jumped on a late ferry heading out to Kismet after parting ways with Selphie when the other girl had had to go home instead of the ferry that she normally took, because for some reason unknown to her the vague sadness (or grief?) that she had been feeling since... _months_ ago, just before summer had begun, had weighed all the more heavily on her heart that afternoon, and before she knew it - she had wandered to this place, this place so well hidden and protected that it was surely a private beach - Kismet was large enough for several of the people that lived on it to stake their claims on their own portion of the coastal line, particularly since - with the exception of the cliffs surrounding it like a vanguard - the whole of Kismet wasn't very high above sea-level. With the tide coming in the way it was now, the little cove Kairi had found herself on probably would be underwater within the next hour - already the water she was standing in had risen from her thighs to her hips, the waves lapping at the bag she had thrown to shore _away_ from the ocean.

She scrambled out of the water, fast - sand and her skirt clung to her legs as she ran for her bag, scooping it up as she began to make her way to the path that would lead further up the cliff - already, with the night darkening and air cooling as it was, she knew that the last ferry would have sailed. If she wanted to go home for the night, she would need to call her father to come pick her up in his boat - and since she didn't carry a cell on her, she'd have to ask to borrow one of the residents landlines, and no-one on Kismet lived so close to the water, not with the risk of it rising to swallow them in bad weather.

She'd been walking for maybe fifteen minutes, the waxing moon just large enough to provide light for her to see where she was going, when she stumbled upon her first house. She would have knocked straight on the door, if it wasn't for one small, singular thing - the chill it sent down her spine as she looked at it.

It was painted a bright, cheery blue - even lit only by the dim, silver light of the half-moon she could tell that - even if that paint only showed on the small parts of the walls that weren't made up of windows, and the roof was just plain corrugated sheets, placed flat and on a diagonal lean across the top of the house, just enough overhang on it to cast shadows on the front of the house and the second floor windows in the sun (at least, that's what she figured that was for). The door was made of dark wood, and Kairi knew that it wouldn't be locked - none of the permanent residents of the Destiny Islands locked their doors except in tourist season.

All in all, it was a nice looking house - similar to most houses on the islands, sure, but the splash of colour and the herb garden grown around it added a homely touch that should have reassured Kairi, warmed her.

It didn't.

She'd never been to this house, of that she was sure - but somehow, just looking at it made her sad; throat tightening as if she was about to cry, _especially_ when she gave a quick glance to the largest second floor window, to the left of the house and the only one with its curtains open.

_Why was she sad?_

Swallowing hard, Kairi shook her head, and took a few uneasy steps back from the path that led directly to the front door of the house.

She'd find somewhere else to call home from.


	5. 〚05〛

For a brief, disorienting moment, Riku had no idea where he was when he opened his eyes.

And then Roxas spoke, dispelling any faint hope he had that the day before had been some horrible sort of fever dream.

“Oh good, you’re awake.” Sora’s Nobody (and thus Riku’s annoyance) was sitting perched on the end of the bed Riku had curled up in, given to him by Merlin, who’s loft he was staying in. He’d wanted to keep Roxas with him, not trusting him enough to let him out of his sight – but Merlin (who could be very, very scary when he wanted to be) had put his foot down against that idea. _I only have so much room_ , he’d complained, shaking a staff at them. _What do you think this is, a hotel?_

“I thought you were with Aerith,” Riku said, pushing himself into a sitting position, deliberately not commenting on Roxas’ presence, since getting a rise out of him was probably Roxas’ intention and the whole reason he was sitting at Riku’s feet.

“I was,” Roxas said in a helpful tone. “And then, this morning – believe it or not – I woke up.”

Riku rolled his eyes at the acidly cheerful sarcasm apparent in that barb, and then rolled out of bed, placing his feet onto the floor. “Well, why are you here?”

Roxas shrugged his shoulders, and shifted in his seat, turning around to face Riku, who gaped in surprise when he saw that Roxas was…eating ice-cream. On his bed. Eating _ice-cream_ on his _bed_.

“Where did you even _get_ that?” He asked, and Roxas tilted his head.

“Aerith introduced me to the duck that makes these,” Roxas grinned. “Sea-salt ice-cream is my favourite flavour.”

“Oh. Well, good for you,” Riku groaned as he stood up, stretching his arms above his head. Roxas stared at him with blatant, open curiosity.

“What does it feel like?” He asked. “Being in that body instead of your own?”

 _You’re not going to punch Roxas,_ Riku told himself, chanted it in his mind. _That’s Sora’s Nobody, he’s going to want him back without_ too _much damage._

Roxas narrowed his eyes at Riku like he could tell what he was thinking, and Riku quickly tried to make himself look as innocent as possible – something that was not as easy as it used to be, given that the face and body he now wore were pretty much the very definition of ‘intimidating asshole.’ It was clear that Roxas didn’t buy it, but maybe remembering not only Donald’s sharp remarks and Goofy’s increasingly frequent sighs from yesterday, but also the reactions of the ‘Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee’ to their bickering, thankfully held back any smart-ass remarks.

"It doesn't really feel like anything," he said. "If I hadn't known this wasn't what I really looked like, I probably wouldn't have even noticed that anything had changed." He raised an eyebrow at Roxas. "So, again, why are you here?"

“I’m here because everyone else is off doing stuff, and you’re asleep.” Roxas wagged a finger. “That’s not very nice of you, making others do all the hard work for you.”

Riku blinked. "What?" he said. "How late is it?"

Roxas shrugged. "It's still pretty early," he said, and placed the empty wrapper of his ice-cream down on Riku's bed, licking at a trail of ice-cream that had melted down his hand. "But, you know, time is kinda of the essence, here."

"So, what? You came to wake me up?"

Roxas nodded. "Basically."

Yawning, Riku gave one final stretch, before reaching around Roxas to tug on the coat he'd abandoned at the foot of the bed the night before, when he'd gone to sleep. At the sight of the coat, something in Roxas' eyes darkened, and his face fell.

Riku paused, halfway through the action of pulling on the second sleeve. "You okay?" He asked cautiously, not sure he liked the way Roxas was staring in his direction, eyes glassy and almost unseeing.

"I just really hate that coat," he said, and his voice was lost as he transferred his gaze from Riku to look down his own body, raised one hand to clench at the thick cloth of the coat he wore across his chest - right over the place his heart would be, if he had one. "I know it's useful, but it doesn't change the fact that I hate it."

Roxas' words reminded Riku of something he had been wondering for a while, ever since a stray thought had crossed his mind a few months earlier and refused to die - and though there was a bitterness on the Nobodies face that made him admittedly wary of agitating him too much, he couldn't help but ask. "But why would you need to wear one of these coats? They keep the darkness from corrupting those who wear them, sure - but only people with hearts are susceptible to the darkness in the first place, since that's where darkness originates from. So...Nobodies wouldn't really need protection, right?"

Brows furrowed, Roxas blinked at Riku's question and thankfully didn't look annoyed. He opened his mouth to answer, before closing it once more in silence, a stumped look crossing his face. "I...I don't know," he said. "I'd never really thought about that." He glanced down once more at the coat he still wore with distaste, before sending a curious look Riku's way. "You think that means I can take it off?"

Riku shrugged uneasily. "If it was me, I'd still wear it just in case," he said. "I mean, it's not like there's any sort of official study we can read up on about the effects of darkness, so I think it would be better to be safe, rather than sorry."

Seemingly reluctant, Roxas nodded his assent - before he shot to his feet, lit up in an eager way that struck directly at Riku's heart, far too similar to Sora that he couldn't _not_ see his best friend flash across Roxas' face for a second.

"Maybe not," he said. "But what if there was someone we could _ask?_ "

Riku tilted his head. "Who?"

Roxas grinned, and pointed to the floor - to the area beneath where they now stood in the loft, the study downstairs. "Merlin," he said.

-x-

You're sleeping. At least, you think you are. Everything around you is darkness, but it isn't cold. It's warm, like a mother's hug. Like being wrapped in a blanket.

You're alone here - you think - but you don't feel scared. It's safe here, that's what it feels like; as if so long as you stay wrapped in this darkness, nothing bad will happen. Nothing will hurt you. There won't be any pain.

 _Wake up_.

A voice calls out - to you? Maybe. You don't see anyone around you, but that doesn't mean anything, not really. After all, as far as you can sense, as far as you can see - there is nothing but infinite darkness. It would be easy enough for someone else to be sinking into this warmth with you.

_Open your eyes._

You sigh, and tilt your head back as far as it can go, only to have your recline stopped gently by nothing that you can see - nothing tangible at all, just more darkness.

 _It's time for you to wake up_.

Huh. Maybe you're darkness, too.

-x-

He woke up gasping, and was instantly aware that he wasn't alone, stilling as he registered the girl - leaning over the edge of the bed he must have been sleeping in and was still tangled up on, an expression of concern painting her face as she reached for him; the man that stood beside her (or loomed over her, take your pick), tall and intimidating, with piercing eyes and a smirk, arms crossed over his chest - and far behind the two of them, a boy only a few years older than he himself was, reclining against the wall casually but watching the proceedings before him with evident interest.

The girl cautiously withdrew the hand that had been reaching for him, and he realised - for some reason, somehow, he'd backed up right against the wall, the blankets he must have slept under having tangled around his legs in his abrupt awakening.

"Sora?" She asked, and he blinked at her as something slotted into place within his mind.

"Yeah?" He said, responding to what he _knew_ was his name, and wondering at how rough and unfamiliar his voice sounded to his ears - even if he didn't know _why_ that was how his brain decided to label his voice as -

Oh. Oh, wow.

"I have _amnesia?_ " He said, baffled (and slightly bemused, which - while probably an inappropriate emotion for the situation he found himself in - just made everything seem all the more dream-like and, well, hilarious). " _Really?_ "

The girl looked startled - maybe at the fact that he apparently couldn't remember anything, maybe because the first words out of his mouth hadn't been words she'd expected. Whatever the reason, she shook off her shock fast. "Um, well - yes," she said. "But how do you feel? Physically, I mean."

"...fine?" He said, somewhat hesitantly. He didn't feel _bad_ , or any sort of pain - but just because he had the presence of mind to recognise what _not_ feeling any of those sensations were didn't mean he knew what was normal for this body - for him. He had no idea what was normal for his body. "I don't feel any pain, at least." Slowly, he pushed away from the wall, adjusting his body and seat until he sat with crossed legs at the centre of the mattress, blanket shoved away from him down at the foot of the bed, staring at both the girl and the man with blatant curiosity.

"I'm sorry," he said. "But I'm not quite sure of what's going on, exactly?"

The girl - blonde and with delicate features, the pale tone of her skin and the blue of her eyes intensified by the pure white dress she wore (maybe to match the decor) - opened her mouth before closing it once again, and slumped in her seat with a sigh, seemingly defeated.

Next to her, the man let out a small chuckle, and uncrossed his arms. "Namine here nursed you back to health," he said, which was _great_ to know, really, Sora would have to thank her later - but didn't really answer his question. "Her way of doing so wasn't entirely conventional, so she was worried about what lasting side effect there might be, but I'm fairly certain she managed a near perfect job." His smile widened. "And considering what happened to you, I'm _very_ certain the memory loss isn't her fault, not really."

The girl - Namine - jumped a bit in her chair, like she hadn't expected that last part, before narrowing her eyes at the man, who was still grinning down at Sora. "...thank you," she said shortly, and Sora was left wondering just where he was - and how he'd ended up here, because _damn_ was it a weird place.

"So..." Sora trailed off leadingly. "What did happen to me, again?"

"You were attacked by Heartless." The man shrugged. "Normally, I'm sure you would have dealt with them just fine, but you were alone, and in the end, their numbers overwhelmed you when they swarmed. You're lucky Namine found you."

Instinctively, Sora's gaze flicked over to the girl the man had named as his saviour - only to find her sitting stiffly in the chair beside his bed, head bowed low so as not to meet his eyes and her hands clenched into fists.

Mystified, Sora took a moment to examine her. Her jaw - what little of it he could see beyond the curtain of her hair that covered it - seemed tight, as if she was gritting her teeth. Did she...not like him, or something?

"Hey, thanks," he said carefully. "I don't know how long you've been watching over me, but I guess it couldn't have been easy, so...thanks again, I guess." He smiled at her easily enough, genuinely meaning the gratitude he was showing her; hoping to coax a smile (or at least some sort of positive response) out of her in return.

She made a strangled noise in the back of her throat, and her hands twisted in the material that made up the skirt of her dress, clenching even tighter than they had been before - her knuckles were almost as white as her clothes, and nearly seemed sharp enough to just _break_ through her skin. "You're...welcome," she said faintly.

Namine's reaction and attitude puzzled Sora, but before he could try and crack her shell even further, what the man had said fully registered in his mind.

_Heartless._

Something in him stilled, and a cold began to take him over - a near freezing chill radiating from where there had been warmth, as he turned the term over in his mind and wondered at the metallic taste that coated his tongue.

"Heartless..." he started hesitantly. “They're...bad, right?"

The man laughed. "In a manner of speaking," he said. "What they do is abhorrent, but you can no more blame a Heartless for seeking hearts than you can a spider entrapping flies. They're animals, that's all - pitiful creatures driven by instinct alone." His eyes seemed to glow with fervour. "You have a very strong heart, Sora - it's no wonder they were drawn to you in such large numbers."

Sora tilted his head at the man. "I - did I... _fight_ Heartless?"

"Yes, you did," he said. "You are a Keyblade wielder, Sora. It is your duty to keep balance between the worlds - and that is why you fought the Heartless; why you must _continue_ to fight the Heartless."

Sora felt his lips tug down into a frown as he mulled over the man's words. None of them seemed _wrong_ , per se, and even just the mention of the Keyblade sent electric sparks skittering down his spine - but _something_ about that sentence was just slightly _off_ to him, and he couldn't for the life of him figure out why. His mind was just one large blank.

"I'll leave you to your thoughts," the man said, taking a step back from where he had previously been positioned, right beside Sora's bed. "I'm certain you must have a lot of them." He smiled sympathetically. "I understand that you may be...overwhelmed, but for now, you're safe - and you'll stay that way as long as you don't go off-world. I'll talk to you again later, when you've had some time to process things."

And with that, he turned and all but glided out of the room, the swishing of his coat's heavy material the only sound breaking the silence.

Once he had left, the boy who had been leaning up against the wall in total quiet the entire time (which felt like a while but realistically was probably only about ten minutes) let out a shaky laugh, closer to an exhalation of breath than anything.

"Man, he's intimidating even when he isn't trying," he muttered. "It's gotta be the shoulders."

At those words, Namine - still in the room, still sitting by his bed in that chair he'd already come to think of as 'hers' - jumped a little bit, whirling in her seat to pin the boy with a fierce, annoyed attention.

He let out another laugh - maybe a nervous tic of some sort? - and shrank back a little under her stare (near glare), running one gloved hand through his hair, messing up the already wilted spikes that made up his hairstyle. "Please don't glare at me like that," he said. "It's, like, weirdly familiar, and it makes me kind of nervous."

Namine persisted with her glare for a moment longer, before sighing and letting up, slumping into her chair as she turned her face from the boy. "Why are you even here?" She asked, and her voice was pure misery.

"The Superior didn't tell me to leave?" He said, and it came out as a question. "Also, the two of you have no idea where anything is? And -" an apologetic look sent Sora's way "- one of you really, _really_ needs a change of clothes."

Startled, Sora glanced down at himself almost in an instinctive response to the boy's words (definitely addressed towards him), to see that he was right - and to marvel at how he hadn't _felt_ how uncomfortable the clothes he was wearing looked. They were too small all over (he had _fought_ in these?), as if he'd gone to sleep in them and woken up years later, having done all his growth in that time period; moving to push himself from the bed, into a standing position only cemented that idea - whereas when sitting on the bed the feeling of the clothes riding up in all the wrong places hadn't been all too noticeable, standing at his full height was...awkward.

The boy squinted at him consideringly. "You look about my size," he said, and Sora nodded - the other boy was definitely taller, but other than that were similar enough in size that any clothes he wore wouldn't be outlandishly large on his shorter body. "I could lend you something to wear until you get some things of your own?"

Sora nodded thankfully. "Thanks..." He blinked at him curiously.

"Oh! Right." He grinned. "I'm Demyx."

"Demyx," Sora said, memorising the name to the face. "That would be really nice, actually."

"Uh -" Namine sounded caught off guard, and when Sora turned to face her questioningly, her eyes were wide as she stared between him and Demyx. "...can I come?" She asked quietly, shrinking back a little under Sora's gaze.

"Sure," Demyx said, in a friendly tone. "Since you're staying here, you'll be need a tour too, I guess."

"She didn't already live here?" Sora asked, as he followed Demyx out the door and into the hall.

Demyx shook his head. "Nah, she was assigned somewhere else," he said. "Some other base; I don't know the details."

Namine was trailing behind the two of them quietly; Sora turned to her in question, silently asking if she could say why. She just stared at the ground and radiated a stubbornness he felt familiar with, somehow. "You'd have to ask Xemnas," she said tartly.

"You must be a total badass, though!" Demyx enthused from up ahead. "You know, only Axel ever made it back from that base? Everyone else got taken out, and some of them were, like, _crazy_ strong, so you must be _extreme_."

It was hard to tell, given how her head was bowed low enough that her hair fell forward to cover her features like a curtain, but Sora was almost certain that Namine blushed.

-x-

She couldn't believe this, couldn't believe that this was really happening.

It was surreal, like a dream. Sora was awake, and with no memory - but he was standing there, next to Demyx, someone he would consider an _enemy_ if he still had his memories - and he was _laughing_.

It wouldn't have made sense, except it _did_ , and for one singular reason alone - her.

This was all her fault. Why did she even exist? She wasn't like Roxas, who's fluke of creation had led to an empty vessel with all the memories he should have held residing in his still living original rather than said original having been destroyed by heartless - no, like all other Nobodies, she'd held all the memories of her original upon her 'birth,' and more besides that, too. She'd always _known_ that her existence was wrong, an aberration - that one day she would _have_ to return to Kairi and fade away - so why had she clung so desperately to whatever meagre, fragile existence she could squeeze out as a prisoner in Castle Oblivion? If she had just ended it all, on that first day - first _hour_ \- of her awakening, before Xemnas had managed to track her down and drag her to the Organization's second base, none of this would have ever happened. Sora would have his memories, and Riku wouldn't have had to sacrifice himself like he did, and Roxas...

Well. She didn't know how things would have differed for Roxas, if at all in any significant way - but she was still sure that it would have been for the better. Everyone, _everything_ \- would be better if Namine didn't exist; if she hadn't existed to make everything go wrong in the first place.

"Hey, Namine." Sora's voice drew her out of her spiralling thoughts, and she focused to see him facing her, a look of concern on his face as Demyx rummaged through the drawer in his room (surprisingly a rather tasteful shade of beige - not colour, not really, but it was a nice break in the monotony of _white_ Namine had all but grown resigned to, and even his bedding didn't conform to the decor - it was a deep navy, and rumpled, as if he hadn't made it whenever the last time he'd woken up from it had been). "Are you okay?"

"...I'm fine," she said after a brief moment of indecision. She had felt the urge to simply _tell_ Sora everything - Demyx had his back to them, if she could make him understand even a little bit, or return _just_ enough memory to make him realise who the enemy really was without breaking his brain, then it would have been easy enough to take the number nine down with his guard so relaxed - and Sora, she knew, for all his honour, was a combat pragmatist. He had no qualms in taking advantage of weaknesses in his opponents; but the walls of the castle still felt as if they were closing in on her, as if the oppressive white of them simply hid away the eyes that watched her.

She wasn't alone. She had to remember that - and right now, kind soul that he was, Sora trusted Xemnas, because he'd treated him with kindness, and because Demyx had, in a move that probably wasn't deliberate, backed him up with the casual way he acted. That was how Sora was, after all - she'd seen it over and over again in his memories. According to Sora, you gave everyone the benefit of the doubt, and if they started out doing something nice, that was extra points in their favour. If people you trusted and liked trusted them in turn, even more points. And then after that - Sora's ability to forgive slights and betrayals was incredible. There were only a few things he regarded as 'unforgivable' - and to this day, very few people had ever managed to cross the lines that would lead to such a result.

And Xemnas...well, Xemnas hadn't really done anything bad, as far as Sora was concerned - even as far back as Castle Oblivion, when he'd still had his memories, Xemnas hadn't been in the picture, and the Nobodies there had been traitors to the cause - something anyone here in the Castle That Never Was could substantiate if Sora asked - further removing the mastermind of everything from taking direct blame. And, considering all Xemnas had expressed to Sora so far was a desire for him to get better and keep fighting Heartless - something he would have done anyway - would he really believe that the 'true' Organization was all that bad, even if she _could_ give him his memories back?

She sighed, and forced a smile to her lips. "Really," she said, when he looked unconvinced. "But thank you for worrying."

A small smile crossed his face in return, and bashfully, he rubbed a hand at the back of his head. "It's no big deal. It's just, I feel like I know you, somehow." The smile hadn't grown any, and as he ducked his head to his chest it was actually harder for her to see - but it was brilliant in a gentle sort of way, and Namine felt warmth defuse through her chest as in response, her own smile became something a lot more genuine. "I should be worried, don't you think?" He asked, glancing over at her sheepishly. "I can't remember anything except my name, so I should be worried, or scared, or _something_. But...I don't. I don't feel anything like that at all." Almost absentmindedly, one of his hands came up to rest against his chest, just over his heart. "I just feel kind of...warm. Happy. And I feel like a part of that is because of you, Namine - I don't know why, but you make me feel...safe."

She wasn't blushing, she told herself. _She wasn't blushing._

But she was, and apparently Demyx found it funny, because he laughed when he turned his attention back to them. "Are these okay for you?" He asked Sora, and held out an armful of clothing - jeans, a shirt and a hoodie, it look liked, and all in shades of blue.

"Yeah, those should be fine," Sora said, and took the clothes with a grin. "Thanks, again."

Demyx shrugged. "It's not like I can wear those clothes anywhere but here, anyway," he said. "They're not 'the uniform.'" His voice formed sarcastic finger quotes around the last two words, with a stress and accent to the words that made it seem as if he was imitating somebody - someone familiar to Namine, somehow, though she couldn't quite put her finger on _who_.

Pausing in the motion of holding the sky blue hoodies against his body, Sora looked at Demyx askance. "Uniform?" He asked.

Demyx nodded. "Not what I'm wearing now, except for the coat," he said. "It's kind of not my style, but the boots are cool." He jerked his chin at the doorway to his room behind them, where a pair of tall, dark boots with elaborate silver accents in a twisted style reminiscent of snakes were placed.

"I want a pair," Sora said immediately. "Those are _awesome_."

"You'd have to talk to the bossman," Demyx said. "He's in charge of uniform distribution. I think it was his idea, too."

Sora tilted his head. "Xemnas?" He queried.

"Nah, he's the Superior," Demyx said. "The bossman is the guy with the blue hair. Saix."

The look on Sora's face, somewhere between bemusement and confusion, said quite clearly that he had no idea what Demyx was going on about - something Namine already knew, and she tried not to tense instinctively at the mention of Saix - but he didn't question it any further, just shrugged to himself and stared down at the clothes he held cradled in a bundle in his arms.

"Is there somewhere I can get dressed?" He asked. "Or should I go back to the other room?"

"Well, that _is_ your room..." Demyx said. "But I'm fine with you getting changed here, and we're not finished with the tour yet." He grinned. "Namine and I will just wait outside in the hall."

Namine nodded, and sent a reassuring smile Sora's way. "Right outside," she stressed, and stepped quickly out of the door.

It wasn't even a full second later that Demyx exited the room, and pulled the door shut behind him before leaning against it. She was starting to understand that it was a habit of his.

"So, he seems pretty cool," he said. "Friendlier than Roxas was at first, at least."

Namine stiffened. "Please don't compare him to Roxas," she said. "They're really nothing alike."

A terrifyingly familiar voice echoed from down the hall; loud and angry. "And isn't _that_ the truth!"


	6. 〚06〛

Namine jumped, and out of the corner of her eyes, saw Demyx flinch in a way that upset his balance (he caught himself with a yelp). Dread began to take root within her, and she turned in the hopes of _not_ confirming what she already knew.

"Axel," she breathed, startled to see him standing in the same hall as her - though she'd seen through Roxas' memories that he was alive, having survived the massacre of Castle Oblivion, she hadn't seen him in person since (though she'd had several theories about just _which_ Nobody was the one polluting the virtual space of Roxas' Twilight Town and driving DiZ to near madness), and the man that stood before her now wasn't the same as the Axel she had known - not even the same as the Axel Roxas had known.

"Namine," he greeted, and she flinched away from the anger burning in his eyes, fixated directly on her. "Good to see you again. You know, all healthy and whole."

The grin that crossed his face was more of a threat than a smile, and Namine had never felt more grateful for the presence of another Nobody than she had at that moment, when Demyx - either deliberately trying to break the tension or completely oblivious to it, she wasn't actually sure - walked around her, to fling an arm around Axel's shoulders.

Almost immediately, Axel deflated. "Hello, Demyx," he groaned, and his shoulders slumped as he sighed.

"'Sup," Demyx greeted. "Where did you go? I heard you'd gone with the Superior and Xigbar, but you didn't come back with them."

"I took a well-deserved sabbatical," Axel said, and gingerly shrugged Demyx's arm off of him, taking a small step away from the eager, younger man (whose eyes were all but sparkling as he stared up at Axel). "And Luxord was with us as well, but I don't see you hanging off of _him_."

Demyx shrugged. "He hasn't come back either," he said. "And besides, I wouldn't want to hang with the old man even if he _was_ here." He pouted. "Come on, a little bit of sympathy? I was stuck with Xaldin for _days_ while the rest of you were gone, and I've literally had more interesting conversations with the Dusks." He sighed. "I miss Larxene."

Axel rolled his eyes. "God knows why," he said, before his gaze slid over to the door Sora was still behind. "So he's really here, then," he muttered. "The Superior actually managed to get his hands on him."

"Huh?" Demyx said, and was summarily ignored as Axel stalked towards the door - only to be blocked by Namine herself.

"Sora's getting dressed," she said, standing with her back straight even though inside she was shaking. "You can't just go in there."

For a moment, it almost seemed as if Axel would force the issue and push his way past her anyway - but he backed down quickly after meeting her eyes, and flashed her a quick smile that she wasn't sure how to take.

"Whatever you say, princess," he said, and gave a mocking bow, before continuing down the hall, back the way he had come from.

Once he was out of sight, Demyx whistled. "Well, he's being even weirder than usual."

Namine opened her mouth to question Demyx, see if he had any idea of what could have changed Axel so much, to create such a great difference between the man that she had known, to say nothing of the man Roxas had known - but it was at that moment that the door behind her opened, and Sora walked straight into her back with enough force to knock her, unsuspecting and caught off guard, right off of her feet.

Her vision was a haze of white as the floor rushed up to meet her, and she flinched, just as the sensation of air being all but _punched_ out of her lungs rushed through her and her descent stopped.

Sora, she realised. Sora had caught her, and she turned her head to see his expression, panicked and pale as he leant slightly over her - one arm gripping the siding of Demyx's door, the other wrapped around her stomach; the reason she was now out of breath being the impact of crashing into it and being yanked back against Sora's chest.

"Dude," Demyx said, his tone of voice impressed. "Nice save."

"Uh, yeah." Sora blinked, and eased back from Namine's personal bubble of space, removing his arm as she straightened and brushed down her dress, feeling her cheeks heat as he looked her up and down. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she said. "Thank you."

For a moment, awkward silence persisted as they stared at each other - then Demyx broke in. "You look _way_ better," he said, and Namine was startled to realise that Sora had indeed changed his clothing - so focused she had been on his face, she hadn't even noticed it.

The first thing that came to mind was, quite honestly, _adorable_. Sora had grown taller and leaner over his year of sleep, but he was still only of average height for his age, and now, wearing Demyx's clothing, that was only made all the more clear. Build wise, they fit well enough - Sora wasn't as stocky as Roxas was, though she wasn't sure if that was the result of a year spent on sustained life support in a cryogenic sleep or not; though the pod had kept him healthy and his muscles from atrophying, it still hadn't been an ideal solution - but both the cuffs of the dark blue jeans and lighter hoodie Demyx had lent Sora were too long for his limbs, the sleeves hanging to just below his fingertips and the cuffs covering what Namine could now tell were bare feet.

Tracking her gaze, Sora laughed. "Yeah, seems I outgrew my shoes, too," he mused. "I kind of wonder how long I was asleep for..."

Namine waited, tense, for him to question her for more details, since Xemnas had pinned her as the one who had both found and healed him - but he simply sent a questioning look at both her and Demyx; Demyx shrugged and she found herself following suit before she did anything else stupid.

Sora, trusting soul that he was, let it go - just like that.

"Well, you've gotten your clothes issue fixed for now, so come on!" Demyx said. "Time to continue with the tour."

-x-

Merlin, unfortunately, knew little that could help them. The old man had blinked at their questions when they had first come down from his upstairs loft, running straight up to him with their eagerness to get answers, before humming thoughtfully and turning to his books.

_I'm sorry,_ he'd said, not too long after. _But I can find no reason for the darkness to corrupt beings without hearts._ He'd shrugged. _Honestly, the Heartless shouldn't even be able to see you, much less respond to you_ , he'd added, peering directly at Roxas over his spectacles.

Maybe picking up on just how uncomfortable Merlin's unescapable gaze made Roxas, Riku had interjected with _we're talking about the darkness, Merlin - not the Heartless._

_Ah, but they are one and the same, my boy!_ Merlin had exclaimed. _There have never been Heartless in these numbers before, true - but for as long as those with hearts, and thus the darkness that originates from hearts have existed, there have been Heartless. Two sides of the same coin, if you will - you cannot have the Heartless without the darkness, but the darkness would not persist and spread were it not for the Heartless._

_But...the darkness responds to me,_ Roxas had protested. _It answers to all Nobodies._

_The difference, my boy,_ Merlin had said, _between a corpse and a living being, is that only one is worth attacking._

_...What?_ Roxas had asked, and a quick glance to the side had shown him that Riku was just as confused as he was.

Merlin had sighed. _Kids these days,_ he'd grumbled. _The darkness isn't sentient,_ he'd said. _Even Heartless aren't, not really - with how they exist as they hold onto hearts, they're more_ sapient _then anything_.

_There's a difference?_ Riku had asked dryly, and Merlin nodded vigorously in answer.

_Sentience is the presence of the mind,_ he'd said, and tapped at the side of his head to emphasise. _Something all Nobodies have, even if they don't possess the other half of what makes a person - sapience, essentially a soul, which the Heartless_ do _have. However, the darkness responds to both - and to those who are whole as well, such as you, Riku - for one very simple thing they all hold in common._

_And what is that?_ Riku had asked.

_Will_ , Merlin had said simply. _Will has nothing to do with body or heart, or even mind, really. It's almost an instinct, something in and of itself, which all creatures possess. And as long as you hold onto your will, the darkness will respond to your commands, much like the elements in magic._ As if in demonstration, Merlin held out a hand with sparking channels of seed lightning flashing from finger to finger; the smell of ozone filled the room.

_However, much the same as magic, if one's will falters, it will turn on its caster - bite eagerly at the hand that feeds it. Magic is, after all, forces of nature wrested under a caster's control; darkness is much the same. It is always seeking to corrupt the hearts of those that traverse through it, so even those with strong wills are appropriately wary of it, regardless of the power it offers._ Here, he'd frowned once again, before looking over to Roxas, as if attempting to see down to the very marrow of him with nothing but his eyes alone. _But even though Nobodies have incredibly strong will by virtue of their very existence, without hearts you still shouldn't need protection from the darkness’s corruption._

_So...I don't have to wear the coat?_ Roxas had asked hopefully - but now, not only had Merlin's frown deepened, Riku seemed unhappy about something, too.

_You said everyone had to wear the coats,_ Riku said. _At all times._

_Mmm, except for when we were in the World That Never Was,_ Roxas said.

_And even this Superior guy wore it?_

_Yeah,_ Roxas said. _He never took it off, either, not even inside the Castle._

Over the top of his head (damn his average height) Riku and Merlin had exchanged a look he couldn't quite read.

_For now,_ Merlin had said finally, carefully, _I think it would be best if you continued to wear the coat - at least until I've had the opportunity to run a few tests and research some more._

Riku had been staring at him, too, a stern expression on his face - and even though Roxas could literally not care any less about what Riku wanted or thought (and thanks to Sora's memories Namine had shoved into his head), looking at Riku now sent tiny skitters of fear down his spine before he could catch himself; Roxas sighed, and acquiesced.

Not because of Riku, or even Merlin, not really - but because the look on Riku's face just then had been near identical to the last expression he'd seen on Axel's, and he'd do anything, pay anything, to make Riku stop having it plastered across his stupid face.

_Fine,_ he'd said, and no matter what Donald would later tell him Riku had loudly proclaimed to the Hollow Bastion Restoration committee, did _not_ pout. _I'll wear the stupid coat_.

It was after he'd said this that Merlin had reassured him that he only need wear the coat when travelling between worlds, or on a dark path, and that while he was in Hollow Bastion he should be fine to take it off - and pretty much immediately after those words had left his mouth Roxas had thrown the coat off as fast as he could - much to the amusement of Aerith, who had entered Merlin's abode to see what they were up to just in time to catch the tail end of their conversation, and had offered to keep Roxas busy for the day while the others figured out what to do.

Roxas had been entirely prepared to protest - he wasn't here so he could lounge around and let others tell him what to do after they'd already come up with their own plans, he was here because he wanted to help Sora and take down the Organization - but then Aerith had given him a slow, conspiratorial (and pretty obvious) wink, and curious as to what exactly she wanted, he'd caved.

And now, he was sitting balanced on the corner of Aerith's kitchen counter, in an apartment she'd apparently claimed as her own when she had moved back to Hollow Bastion from Traverse Town.

"I'd wanted to move back to my childhood home, you know," she'd said, humming serenely as she flitted from cupboard to cupboard, pulling out bowls and pans and spoons, and Roxas wasn't certain, but he was pretty sure she was baking a cake. "A cottage down by the cliffs, just a little bit removed from the water, near the church I used to play in. There were so many beautiful flowers." She sighed. "They're all gone now, though."

"Why?" Roxas asked, curious despite himself. Thanks to Sora's memories, he knew about Maleficent - but even _she_ couldn't have managed the level of damage Hollow Bastion must have sustained, to scatter all of its people to the wind without the world's heart being lost - her control over darkness had been incredible, terrifying - but nowhere near that absolute. "What happened here?"

Aerith's face darkened, and she paused in the act of measuring out a cup of flour. "I'm not sure," she said. "I just remember crying, because the world had started shaking and my mother wouldn't get up from where she had fallen." Her hands were shaking. "I was young; it's all a bit blurry for me."

"That's fine," Roxas said cautiously, watching her warily as her hands stilled, and her back straightened.

"This place used to have another name, you know," she said. "'Radiant Garden.' I remember I always used to think the name was perfect, because of all the flowers." There was a bittersweet, melancholy sort of wistfulness on her face as she reminisced, a slight smile tugging at the corners of her lips.

Roxas tilted his head. "I don't think I've ever heard any of the others mention that," he said. Not even looking through Sora's memories revealed that piece of knowledge to him.

"They don't know," Aerith said. "Or rather, they can't remember."

Roxas shuddered, because he knew something about not being able to remember things, _important things_ , and thinking on that always brought to mind Namine, whom he wasn't entirely sure how to feel about - but, fighting through the instinctive _nope_ and revulsion such a thing made him feel, he asked her: "Why?"

Aerith shrugged. "I don't know," she said quietly, cracking two eggs into her bowl of neatly measured out dry mixture, before beginning to stir them slowly through. "I've always been a little special, though." There was a sort of self-deprecation in her smile as she said that, and Roxas (who had experience with being ‘special’) fell silent, knowing better than to ask.

"Do you have any ideas, though?" He asked, swiftly changing the subject - and genuinely curious as to what the answer could be.

Aerith didn't disappoint. Leaning across the counter to hold her face close to Roxas', she whispered in his ear. "I know a place where we could find out."

Roxas felt himself go incredibly red as she spoke, and tried valiantly not to let his embarrassment show as Aerith pulled back with a giggle, moving to grease her baking pan. "Where?" He asked.

Not turning her attention from her task, Aerith raised one hand and point behind her, through her kitchen window in the direction of the castle that formed the large centrepiece of Hollow Bastion, classically beautiful and elegant architecture marred by spires of rock and rubble. "There," she said. "We've been through most of what we could already, because that was where Ansem studied - but there are some things that are password protected, and some areas that are locked, so we couldn't get into them." She shot him a brilliant smile. "And that is where you come in, if you'll help me."

Roxas blinked. "Me?"

"Yep," Aerith said. "After all, you're like Sora, right? You have a Keyblade?"

Roxas' first instinct was to insist he was nothing like Sora - a knee jerk reaction, and his mouth had already opened to shout out his protest when his mind caught up to his body and reminded him that Aerith probably hadn't meant it like that.

So, "yes," he said simply. "I do."

"Well, if you'll help me, that's good," she said. "After all, a key unlocks doors."

Roxas laughed in agreement with her statement. "I guess," he said. "I've never really thought about it like that."

Aerith cocked her head to one side, and regarded him with curious eyes. "Really?" She said.

"Yeah. It's just...my Keyblade has always seemed like a weapon to me." Sending a cautious look her way, Roxas judged the distance between himself and everything else positioned in the room, and after deciding it was _probably_ safe - held his hand out and called his Keyblade to him.

Not startled at all, Aerith instead stepped closer, leaning in to take a good look at it. "It looks like Sora's," she said. "Or, the one he had when he first came to Traverse Town."

Roxas nodded. On the gummi ship here, he and Riku had managed to establish that - he and Sora shared the same base Keyblade, the Kingdom Key. They were unsure of what would happen if one of them tried to summon the Keyblade if the other was already holding it, leading to Riku being incredibly grateful of the fact that, wherever he was, Sora was likely still asleep, meaning there was no chance of him being caught in a bad situation with no weapon at hand (he'd also grudgingly admitted he was glad that this meant that Roxas would be able to defend himself in any situation).

(There was also another issue that had arisen before their departure from the _real_ Twilight Town - before they had set off for Hollow Bastion and worlds unknown, Riku had pulled Roxas aside and demanded to know if he could still dual-wield Keyblades.

Surprised, Roxas had answered truthfully that he didn't know. Riku had told him to hurry up and test it, then - and so he had.

The answer?

Sort of. He could _sort of_ summon two Keyblades. The first time, it had come to him easily enough, wielding the twin Keyblades he now knew to be Oathkeeper and Oblivion thanks to the memories of Sora that Namine had given him - and boy, hadn't that felt awkward now that he _knew_ what those Keyblades represented, particularly with the person that Oblivion personified standing over him with crossed arms and a frown. After that - whether it was because of his own awkward tension and reluctance to wield those blades or some other, unknown reason - his ability to dual wield came and went as it wanted, seemingly with no rhyme or reason to it.

To put it simply, neither Riku nor Roxas had been pleased.)

"According to Merlin, we're separate entities but the same existence," Roxas said. "Or something like that, kind of - so we share a Keyblade."

Aerith hummed as she raised a hand to stroke down the teeth of the key, moving daintily along the jagged pattern of silver and sleek chrome. "It's a nice Keyblade," she told him. "But somehow, I don't think it suits you."

Roxas had no idea what she meant by that, and he was very eager to question her further - but she had the same look on her face that she had had earlier on in the conversation, when she'd mentioned that she was 'special' - and again, especially given that he was a guest, and _not_ Aerith's friend, not like Sora was, regardless of how nice she was acting towards him, he didn't really want to push it.

"Er, thanks," he finally decided on saying, and Aerith rewarded him with a warm smile that lit up the room in a way he would probably forever connect to her, now, even if he met another person with that same skill.

Closing the oven door after sliding her cake into it, already pre-heated, Aerith clapped her hands together and set a timer - a timer that she then slid into a pocket in the skirt of her dress.

"Come on, Roxas," she said. "We've got some time, so how about I show you around town?" She hesitated. "Please don't mention Radiant Garden to anyone else."

Roxas held his hands up against his chest in a gesture of innocence. "Hey," he said. "Aerith, you can trust me."

Her eyes sparkled. "Oh, I know I can," she said, and there was something mischievous in her voice and expression - _I know something you don't,_ her face all but taunted him; he could even hear the sing-song tone apparent in the imagined words.

And it was at that moment, when they were just about to head out the door, happy and laughing, that the ninja girl on the restoration committee - _Yuffie,_ whispered Sora's memory - burst into Aerith's house, panting. Aerith's front door hit the wall with a loud bang that was deafening in the sudden silence as their laughter stopped, and their cheer fled out of the still open doorway.

"Yuffie?" Aerith asked, her tone and expression concerned, automatically taking a step closer to her friend, leant against the door in order to catch her breath. "Are you okay?"

Yuffie shook her head - not negating Aerith's worries, or confirming them, but brushing them off. "Trouble," she gasped out. "Heartless."

Aerith gasped - a quick, sudden intake of breath with an undercurrent of panic that had Roxas turning to face her questioningly. Her hands had come up to press against her mouth and her eyes were wide with horror.

"You don't mean -" she started, and her voice was hushed with fear.

"No!" Yuffie interrupted her. "No, no, no - not those Heartless, though considering we have Keyboy here, that might change soon - no, these Heartless are, like, warping in." Her face was pale and pinched, and apparently she'd recovered enough to feel steady on her feet, because she pushed off of the door and reached over her shoulder to tug down and reveal her weapon - a giant, lethal edged shuriken that reminded Roxas painfully of Axel, even though he _knew_ (thanks to many painful, thankless hours of listening to Axel lament and complain about the others and their ignorance) that shuriken and chakrams weren't the same thing.

" _Those_ Heartless?" He stressed in the sudden lull in the conversation. " _What_ Heartless?"

Aerith shot him a quick look he could only describe as at least mildly guilty, but Yuffie glared at him.

"Oh my god, so not the time," she said. "You _do_ know how to use that Keyblade of yours, right? Well, there are Heartless _everywhere_ down there right now. _Go forth and **use it**_."

Roxas couldn't help it - he gulped, a _yes ma'am_ hanging off the tip of his tongue; the only words with even a fifty percent chance of calming Larxene down once she'd _really_ gotten ticked off - and while Yuffie was no Larxene, her bad attitude when pushed was almost close enough.

Still - it grated, being told what to do, having orders barked at him like that like he was going to jump just because she said so - _he wasn't Sora, wasn't their friend, why were they acting like it was a_ given _he would help them -_

"Roxas." Aerith's voice, quietly serious. "Please."

And where Yuffie's disturbingly on point Larxene impersonation hadn't managed to, those two words from Aerith broke him - because by using his name and phrasing it as a question, she was giving him what he wanted most - the freedom of choice, and confirmation that at least _someone_ out there saw him as his own person, and not as a fellow Nobody or simply a piece of Sora.

"Sure," he breathed out, and a sensation like the air after a lightning storm - all ozone and buzzing static - bloomed in his mind; a sensation he recognised from his time working inside of the Organization - his Keyblade, humming and _wanting_ , ready and eager to be summoned to his hand - to battle. "Okay. Let's do this."


	7. 〚07〛

Fighting against the Heartless was something of an experience for Riku. When he'd stood alongside Maleficent (like an _idiot_ ) they'd obeyed his commands; this past year his enemies had mostly been Nobodies. Out of the thousands of battles he'd fought since starting down his path and swearing to watch over Sora, only about a hundred or so were Heartless, and even then - they were usually stragglers, weak and coming at him in low numbers.

This...was insane.

Leon had taken him to the bailey - had explained to him on the way that he had, indeed, forgotten Sora, as had everyone else in Hollow Bastion, only managing to remember he had existed at all shortly before their arrival in the world; confirming what Namine had posited as a likely side-effect of Sora's year long sleep as she dove deep through his mind to restore his memories via the links he had to other hearts.

He'd avoided returning to the Destiny Islands for a year, or even looking for a path that would take him home, because of that very idea - that fear, because towards the end Sora had begun to fade even from _his_ mind, and if he encountered a Kairi with no clue who Sora was, or that he had ever even existed in the first place...

...he wasn't sure what he would do, but he was sure it wouldn't have been good. Would that have been the final push his heart needed to forget about Sora as completely as the rest of the worlds had?

"We have...a bit of a problem," Leon had said gravely as he led Riku through the stonework halls of the bailey, to an overhang that overlooked pretty much all of Hollow Bastion. It looked small from so high up, but that wasn't what had drawn Riku's eyes.

"A bit of a problem," he'd said faintly. "Yeah. I can see that."

Leon had laughed, short and without humour. "We can handle most of what comes our way, but that..." he'd trailed off, shrugging - not in a careless way, but in a way that screamed hopelessness and a complete loss for what to do. Eventually, after staring silently down at the writhing mass of Heartless in the ravine surrounding Hollow Bastion, a veritable legion of swarming darkness filling the canyon like water in a moat, he'd glanced up to meet Riku's eyes. "You used to work with Maleficent," he'd said. "Can you order them somewhere else?"

It was then, looking into Leon's fixed gaze, that Riku knew he was far from forgiven for his actions a year ago. Even if he'd never harmed Leon directly, or done anything to hurt the people now happily living their lives down below him in Hollow Bastion - he'd done plenty to hurt Sora, and given how frequently he'd, well, _frequented_ Traverse Town, it was no surprise that he'd ended up spilling _something_ to the people there that he'd considered his friends. After all, if Riku hadn't been too busy being the one causing problems for Sora in the first place, _he_ would have been the one Sora had confided in.

And, again unsurprising for Sora, the people of Traverse Town - of Hollow Bastion - had swiftly come to consider him their friend, as well. It was just Sora's way - something about the way his heart was just so open was magnetic; he drew people to him like honey drew bees.

Leon knew just how badly he'd messed up - but more than how he'd hurt Sora, he had the presence of mind and impartiality to see beyond the personal betrayal that Sora had felt, and Riku was pretty sure Maleficent had been the one to cause a significant amount of damage to Hollow Bastion, long ago.

"...No," he'd said finally, quietly. "I don't have that ability anymore."

Leon had just grunted, and like that, the subject was dropped - even if he was far from forgiveness, apparently Leon wasn't the kind of guy to hold too obvious a grudge.

"Well, they haven't made a move yet," Leon had sighed. "We'll just have to hope it stays that way, even if we have a Keyblade wielder back here with us now."

There was a sort of sorrow in Leon's words as he said that, and Riku had to take a shaky breath as it hit him that he wasn't the only one that missed Sora. The day before, on that thrice damned gummi ship, it had been easier to accept Donald and Goofy's grief - they'd _known_ Sora, had been his friends, had been there with him for that final fight and Castle Oblivion, and even Roxas' desire to help was something he could deal with, because while Roxas wanted to help, he clearly hadn't felt the grief and pain the other two or Riku himself had.

However, Leon and the others on the Restoration Committee were literally strangers to Riku, just more proof that Sora had grown on his journey while Riku had remained stagnant; proof not that Sora had left Riku behind, but that Riku had abandoned his best friend for no reason other than jealousy, a petty rivalry.

"Of course," he'd muttered. "Roxas will draw them, as long as he's here." He'd had just enough time to cast an uneasy glance at the area above the Heartless swarm - and that had been when everything went to hell.

All around them - above and below them, even, darkness began to pool, gathering in a way that tugged at Riku's gut and instincts, intimately familiar with him. "Get ready!" He'd called out to Leon, pulling Soul Eater from the darkness with a violent slash that rent the air. "Incoming!"

They were Nobodies, not Heartless - and to Riku's surprise, instead of attacking the two armed and ready humans before them, they turned in the other direction - fleeing?

Leon, it seemed, had been as confused as he was - until realisation hit him, and a deep horror formed in his eyes. "The gates!" He'd yelled out. "They're heading for the bailey's gates!"

It had taken only a moment for Riku to process those words - and then, grimacing slightly, he sent an apologetic look he wasn't sure Leon managed to see the other man's way, before calling up his own dark path and running forward, finding himself by said gates in a matter of seconds.

The fight against the Nobodies - dusks, nothing to be worried about, really - had been easy, but it was what had come _after_ that that had sent off alarms in Riku's head; standing above him, on one of the elevated brick walls that ran along the area of the bailey, was someone wearing the dark coat of an Organization XIII member - and since he could tell quite clearly it wasn't Roxas, given the figure's height, that could only mean one thing: a genuine member of the Organization, right in front of him.

He'd rushed forwards before his brain had time to talk his body out of it, and the figure had chuckled. "Well, aren't you _eager_."

The sneer in the voice was just familiar enough to make Riku falter slightly, slowing as he realised that this was the gunner that had bested him in the old mansion - the Nobody that had prevented him from getting to his best friend and Namine in time to save them.

He felt his face contort into a smile, and debated between the merits of trying to rush him in close quarters before he had a chance to start shooting once more of vanish into a dark path - and that was when he spoke again.

"Well, _down_ , boy - it's not _you_ we're after." Riku couldn't see under the hood the gunner had pulled over his face, but he didn't need to see the grin evident in the man's voice to know it was there, and that it was _vicious_. "Let the puppy know that we said hello, alright?" He clicked his fingers, and once more Riku felt the sensation of darkness ripping a tear in the fabric of reality - only this time, too many paths opened at once for him to put a finger on the direct number. "After all, it's rude to leave a parting gift without a nametag, am I right?"

And then, laughing, the guy had faded away into his own path with Riku still frozen, trying to process just how many Nobodies (or even Heartless) that could have entered directly into the heart of Hollow Bastion through so many rips - just as Leon had run up to him, panting slightly and gunblade held at the ready.

"Enemies?" He had asked, and Riku had pointed wordlessly down at the town below them. Leon's expression had hardened, his mouth becoming a grim line across his face, and without even questioning it, he had started running.

That time, rather than travel there via darkness, Riku had run alongside Leon on the way down, not wanting to leave the other man to fight alone in case the path to Hollow Bastion was blocked with opponents.

And that was how they'd gotten to where they were now - the town square, the centre of Hollow Bastion, cutting down Heartless as they spilled through the streets.

In a word, insanity.

The air was thick with the acrid taste of darkness, the sight of it tangibly curling through the air like a blackened heat haze, white motes of light sparking to life as, shuddering, Heartless fell from the holes in the sky – mostly Shadows and Soldiers, though he could hear from a little distance away the muffled thudding that let him know there was at least one Large Body near.

And it wasn’t just Heartless, though they were flooding in by the hundreds, it seemed – no, there were Nobodies, too, Dusks and _masses_ of Creepers.

Riku was torn between sighing and screaming. None of the enemies currently invading Hollow Bastion were particularly _difficult_ to fight – not just to him, but to the many citizens of Hollow Bastion that had taken to the streets with shouts and battle cries of righteous anger (was that old woman batting away Creepers with a _broom?_ ) – to say nothing of the Restoration Committee, as well as Roxas, Donald and Goofy, who were surely around somewhere – but there were just _so many_. With the exception of the writhing pool of Heartless down in the ravine below them, Riku could honestly say he had never seen so many Heartless at once – and the Nobodies were staying well out of the way, only swooping in to attack once the Heartless in a particular area were gone and the people were already weakened. That made sense, in a way; he wasn’t sure if he’d go as far as to call them ‘mortal enemies,’ but in areas where there were plenty of one there were usually few of the other, and considering how – even just now, as he was watching – if a Heartless managed to stray too close to a Nobody a vicious fight ensued as both turned their attentions to one another rather than the people surrounding them, they _definitely_ didn’t get along.

“Thunder!” The word was half snarl, half quack, and Riku turned from cutting through one particularly brave Soldier with Soul Eater to see Donald blasting his way through Heartless with electricity; not managing to defeat any in the single casting that Riku could see, but clearing a path through the hordes and stunning them, however briefly.

Just behind Donald was goofy, holding his shield ready and with a serious expression on his face; Cid brought up the rear, spear swinging in his hands and cigarette still hanging from his mouth, just unlit.

He felt a grin cross his face as the area around him, the town square, transformed from a hodgepodge mess of untrained citizens with him leading the charge to an arena that novices knew better than to hang around in, the old woman smartly running for either her house or shelter, and dragging a line of belligerent kids behind her, each of them protesting that they wanted to stay and fight.

“Blizzard!” Donald called out another spell, this one of the ice element – thuds of icicles hit the ground as they fell from the sky like rain, piercing through the bodies of Heartless and Nobodies alike, and transforming them from solid entities to wisps of curling black smoke and illusory streaks of light as they faded.

He ran past the three with a nod of thanks, made his way to the place where the most noise was coming from – the direction Leon had run down upon their arrival to Hollow Bastion proper from the bailey, and the direction Aerith had taken Roxas earlier.

Even if Riku hadn’t had any desire to help get rid of the Heartless – and he _did_ , oh, he definitely did, and not just because it felt good to work his frustrations out on something – he would have run in that direction. Roxas was, after all, an intrinsic part of Sora; was needed to make Sora whole again, the whole reason Namine had had to keep him under for a year as she worked on his memories. So, for now, in absence of his best friend, Riku would simply have to make do and keep Roxas safe as best he could, so that when they found Sora once more they would be able to re-join without any complications.

(There was, of course, the issue of Roxas himself – even if he, for whatever reason Namine had crammed into his head genuinely wanted to _help_ Sora, Riku highly doubted that ‘help’ would extend to returning to Sora’s existence. He was prepared to fight Roxas on it, if it came down to it – if he absolutely _had_ to – but not only did he remember how disastrously their last fight had ended, he honestly didn’t _want_ to.)

Leon wasn’t hard to find – the _crack! Crack! Crack!_ Of bullet after bullet being shot from his gunblade echoed throughout the empty (and now chilled) streets, and Riku turned a corner just in time to watch him snipe down three dusks that had been lurking above the gutters of the buildings along the street – three dusks that had been watching the others in the area intently.

Because Leon wasn’t alone, and now Riku had achieved most of his personal objectives for this battle, having found Roxas. The Nobody was fighting against the Heartless, holding the Kingdom Key two-handed as he thrust and stabbed in a way that was incredibly dissonant to how Sora had wielded the same weapon – in the World That Never Was Roxas had fought him with great, swooping slashes and by slicing the blade, the same way Sora had always turned his Keyblade to his enemies; but that must have been simply how Roxas fought with two blades, because reduced to one and he may as well have been wielding a spear (to Roxas’ credit, however strange it looked to Riku, it still seemed to be effective at downing Nobodies and Heartless).

Riku joined the fray wordlessly, slicing down Shadow after Shadow that followed his movements and trying his best to dodge out of Roxas’ way when he attempted a reversal, since he apparently paid little to no mind to his allies on the field while in the midst of battle. Absentmindedly, he noticed that Roxas seemed to gravitate towards the Heartless as his opponents of choice, almost going out of his way to avoid crossing blade with the Dusks and Creepers. He decided that it wasn’t worth mulling over – they were, technically, of the same species, and if Roxas felt awkward in fighting his own kind, then it really wasn’t worth another argument, not so soon after they’d (somewhat) agreed to an uneasy peace. After all, if it was him, he wouldn’t want to, either – just the thought of having to fight against (let alone _kill_ ) another human sent chills down his spine, and in no small part because it brought to mind the one and only serious fight he’d ever fought against another human.

Against Sora.

Riku shook himself out of his reverie, instincts screaming at him to jump away – and dodged back from an attack by an incredibly brave (and stupid) Creeper, its arms – amorphous limbs? – becoming like great, hooked blades and scything down at his head. They passed so close to his face he _felt_ the air around them part as they lunged for him, and brought his blade up to intercept them before the Creeper could pull back for another attack – the weakest of Nobodies, it only took a single hit to sever its life.

One thing that his daydreams of exploration and other worlds on the Destiny Islands had never considered was the fact that, a lot of the time, even when life threatening, battles were monotonous. It became a pattern, a rhythm – slice and stab and _block_ , dodge, duck, and swerve around your allies; watch your back and _repeat_. It wasn’t mindless, exactly, because there _was_ thought and a certain level of attention required – but Riku could admit quite freely that he was guilty of fading out a little in battles such as the one he fought that day in Hollow Bastion; battles in which the enemies were just so outclassed by him that they weren’t really worth his full attention, at least _not_ when he wasn’t fighting alone.

This time, thankfully, there weren’t any surprises to catch him off guard once he fell into his bad habit – and before he knew it, the battle was over.

Leon, who had somehow managed to stay directly by Riku’s side throughout the battle as he moved (he had no idea where Donald, Goofy and Cid had vanished to; had lost sight of Roxas a while back) stood alert, even once they had realised that all the Heartless around them had been vanquished, the Nobodies no longer hovering in the air. Riku didn’t let down his guard, either, holding Soul Eater at the ready, much the same as Leon was with his gunblade.

“You hear anything?” Leon asked, his tone wary and his stance low and wide, as he flicked his gunblade into something more resembling a blocky pistol than a sword with a gun on it, leaning it against one arm almost as if a makeshift stock for balance on a weapon that didn’t have one, and his gaze roved over the rooftops as if expecting an attack at any moment as he lined up his sight.

“No,” Riku said. “Nothing.” He looked back the way they had come, blinking at the signs of destruction he saw. “I think we might be good, at least for now.”

Leon sighed, and lowered his arms, a soft _ch-chink_ sounding from his gunblade as he flicked something on it, returning it to its default state and sliding it back into its holster. “For now,” he agreed, and also turned to look in the same direction Riku was facing. “Do you think the others are okay?”

There was trepidation in his voice, and Riku didn’t know what else he could do but shrug. Even though this body looked older, in the end he _was_ only sixteen, and his experiences in life so far hadn’t taught him how to deal with a scared adult, not really.

"Probably," he decided on. "I mean, we are, aren't we?"

There was a moment’s pause, as Leon considered his words - and then the older man was bolting back the way they had come, his speed falling just barely short of a run. "True," he called over his shoulder. "But somehow I get the feeling that you and I are the more reasonable of our respective friends."

It was kind of sad that Riku couldn't think of an argument or defence to counter what Leon had said - but then he thought of Roxas, and how he had come from Sora, and how everything he'd done since they met had been like the actions of an even _more_ reckless Sora - and then he too was running, right on Leon's tail.


	8. 〚08〛

With a groan, Roxas vanished his Keyblade just in time to avoid impaling himself on it as he collapsed to the ground, panting. He didn't have any solid idea on just how long it had been since Riku had crushed him into unconsciousness and then kept him that way, but apparently it had been a long enough period of time that his body - once capable of fighting like he had been for _hours_ , if not _days_ \- was very much feeling the strain of being in combat for, like, forty minutes. If that.

He was exhausted, and even though the pavement of Hollow Bastion was pockmarked by bullets and sword slices and the explosive results of spells from the fire element, as well as coated in a cold, damp sheen of ice courtesy of Donald, Roxas fell back onto it gratefully, feeling his brain reorient itself as the world stopped spinning. The cold from the ice seeped into his clothes as they soaked up water that was fast melting where he lay, and he would have been lying if he had claimed that it didn't feel good on his aching muscles as he closed his eyes and relaxed into the chill.

_Only for a moment_ , he told himself. It's not like the others gathered in the area would let him rest there for too long, anyway - if what he knew about these people, from both Sora's memories and his own observations was correct, then the moment they'd regrouped he'd be dragged out of any sort of comfort or rest in order to help with the clean-up.

"Oh!" Somewhere above him, Aerith gasped. He squinted in the direction her voice had come from, eyes narrowed into slits as she continued, "my cake!"

"Your cake?" Yuffie's voice, closer to him but coming from the same direction as Aerith's. "What about it?" She sounded amused, there was no mistaking it.

"I just _left_ it!" Aerith said mournfully. "I didn't even think - I just ran out the door and left my oven on! What if the cake is burnt? What if _my house caught fire?_ "

Without eyes on the scene, it was hard for Roxas to tell, but he was pretty sure he heard Yuffie snickering. "Even with all this destruction, I'm sure we would spot a house fire, Aerith," she said, possibly seeking to console her friend.

"Would we, though?" Aerith asked. " _Would we?_ "

Thudding footsteps broke through the back and forth tension of Aerith's near manic worry and Yuffie's surprisingly calm amusement, and Roxas rolled over, blinking his eyes fully open just in time to see the approaching figures of Riku and Leon.

"You're both okay!" Aerith ran up past Roxas to meet the two of them half way, and Roxas could hear quite clearly the pure and genuine joy in her voice.

"As okay as we can be," Leon reassured her, as she came to a halt in front of him. "We've both taken our fair share of potions, don't you worry."

Aerith shook her head, her braid swinging like a pendulum with the frantic motion - and though Roxas could not see her face as her back was turned to him, he could just _imagine_ the mulish expression of determination on her face; no _wonder_ Leon had backed up a step with a look like a deer before the hunter. "How about we go to Merlin's," she suggested, in a tone suggesting it was not at all a suggestion. "He and I can look over _all_ of you there."

If Leon had been the type of man to freely express himself, he might have groaned. As it was, his face closed off, and he stoically nodded his agreement - probably knowing better than to argue with Aerith, _especially_ when she was on the warpath. In direct contrast and comparison, Yuffie quite openly and loudly whined at Aerith's words.

"Aw, come on," she complained. " _Really?_ " With a huff, she crossed her arms. "Like, sure, I understand it for _them_ ," she gestured at the boys (Riku looked mildly offended), "but I'm _totally_ fine."

"Yuffie, you're bleeding," Leon pointed out dryly, and tapped at the side of his head.

Startled, Yuffie reached up one hand to brush against her temple, and frowned when her fingertips came away red. "Shut up, Squall."

Leon (Squall? _What?_ Sora's memories were of no help, either) sighed. "It's _Leon_ ," he said.

She hummed. "Sure, sure."

Laughing quietly at their antics as he pushed himself from reclining on his elbows to crouching on his knees, Roxas realised he could feel someone's eyes fixated on him - and looked up to cross gazes with Riku. The other boy's face was unreadable, but when he spoke, the tone was concerned. "Are you okay?" He asked.

Slightly uncomfortable, Roxas shrugged. "Tired," he said, not wanting to admit (not even to himself) just how out of sorts Riku's worry was making him feel. Logic reminded him that Riku was only feeling that way because he needed Roxas alive and intact to return him to Sora - but the memories of Sora that Namine had shoved into his head waved it off like it was nothing, because _of course_ Riku was worried for him. He was his best friend, after all.

Wasn't he?

While amongst the Organization, Roxas had always resented whatever glitch of fate or design that had led him to waking up without his original's memories. It had been another thing that made him different, that made him stand out - that made him question himself. But now, he had to wonder - had he been lucky, or unlucky? He'd lived his own life, however briefly - had been his own person, not beholden to the memories or experiences of his original - and now he actually knew what such a thing felt like, Namine having entwined his memories with Sora's so tightly, interweaving them so closely it was hard to tell what actually came from _him_ , from Roxas, anymore. In that aspect, he was definitely unlucky - because while the others had seen themselves and lived as their originals, they had never known the dissonance, the dysphoria having two lives interposed over one another brought about.

It hurt. On the one hand, Riku was his once enemy, and now his reluctant ally. On the other...

His best friend. His _best friend_.

The conflicting thoughts and emotions that Riku’s very presence brought about – to say nothing of how his actions and regard towards Roxas contradicted how many of Sora’s memories said he _should_ be acting – did nothing but cause Roxas legitimate pain when he thought on them too long, so he shoved the look of concern on Riku’s face as far away from the forefront of his mind as he could, and pushed himself unsteadily to his feet as Aerith began to firmly round them all up.

“Cid!” She called out to the older man, who was looking even more grizzled than usual as he turned a corner into their view, limping slightly and putting his weight on his spear. By his side, Donald and Goofy seemed to be arguing – the both of them with their clothes slightly damaged, but not really seeming to be any worse for wear. “Are you okay?”

“What kind of question is that?” He yelled back at her. “I’m sure as hell a lot better than you kids. You all look miserable!”

Aerith giggled. “We’re going to Merlin’s,” she said. “And you’re coming, too.”

Cid sighed, but didn’t argue.

“You should have let me heal you when I offered,” Donald said, with a smug tone to his voice. Cid shot him a perturbed look that showed just how much he did _not_ agree with that statement. Roxas couldn’t really argue with that. Donald’s spells were, in a word, _explosive_ – and he’d never really been the best healer; that job had usually fallen to Sora, annoyingly enough.

“Come on, come on,” Aerith clapped her hands, and as efficiently as she could, began herding the group down the badly damaged streets to Merlin’s (hopefully still intact) abode. Tired and aching though he was, Roxas fell into line without complaint (earning him a brilliant smile from Aerith that warmed him down to his toes; there was something fey and almost _Axel_ about that smile – and while the reminder hurt, particularly considering how his last encounter with his best friend had gone, there were enough memories of good times with Axel stored away within his head that the likeness was a pleasant one), and Riku slowed down his steps until he fell behind the rest of the group, to keep pace with Roxas who was near the back.

He braced himself for an awkward conversation, but Riku didn’t speak, not at first – and when he finally did, the words were short and to the point. “ _Are_ you okay?” He asked quietly, with even more intensity than he had earlier. It seemed that he hadn’t believed Roxas when he’d said he was fine. _Rude_.

“Like I said, I’m fine,” he all but snapped, wishing his limbs weren’t so tired so he could push ahead past Riku.

“Oh, sure you are,” Riku said. “That’s why you’re moving like you want to apply for pensioner’s benefits.”

Roxas blinked. “I – what?”

Riku stared at him. “Namine gave you Sora’s memories, didn’t she? And it’s not like you were in the World That Never Was for a year, you can’t _not_ know what I’m talking about.”

Roxas shrugged helplessly, still confused even as he dug through the archives of Sora’s memory, as far back as he could. Apparently, Sora hadn’t felt that whatever Riku was referencing was important enough to keep close in his heart, because the memories he had access to were those of a more personal nature, rather than just the general knowledge his original counterpart had held.

He said as much to Riku, who sighed – a frown tugging at his lips. “You really are just a kid,” he muttered, and Roxas felt a flicker of annoyance stir to life within him.

“So are you,” he stated bluntly. “Even if you look like a creepy, middle-aged man.”

(If the body he was currently in had been any other man, Roxas had the feeling that Riku might have been affronted by that claim – but as it was, considering it was Ansem’s face and body and the ‘rocky’ relationship the two of them had, he just came off as amused, barely even registering Roxas’ insinuation that he, too, was a child.)

“Yeah, I suppose…but you’ve only lived a year, Roxas,” he said. “And what have you done in that year? You worked for the Organization, and then…but…” Riku trailed off, frustration clear in his voice, and Roxas resisted the urge to just grit his teeth and _smack_ him.

“What are you getting at, exactly?” He snapped, his tone heated. He didn’t need to be _reminded_ of how much his life had sucked – and he didn’t like the way Riku was talking; it made him uneasy, made him want to _run_ – and he had already decided, from the moment he had opened his eyes with more memories than he could have possibly generated and a new clarity on life that he would _never_ run again.

“I don’t even know,” Riku sighed, and with one final unreadable glance Roxas’ way, sped his walk into a brisk jog that was just short of breaking into a run, and moved rapidly to the front of the slowly travelling group, to stand by Leon’s side.

If he’d had any energy left in him, Roxas might have been offended. As it was, he just shot an exhausted scowl at Riku’s back – he was being infuriating on _purpose_ , he was sure of it, far more so than usual.

He was still glaring half-heartedly at Riku when Aerith finally managed to lead them to Merlin’s. The wizard’s house was intact except for the baffling lack of a door – even more confusing once Roxas stepped inside, as nothing seemed to be disturbed from how it had been, earlier in the day when Roxas had first come to wake Riku up; it wasn’t that Merlin had removed the door for whatever reason, either, because the hinges were still attached to the door frame with splintered chunks of wood hanging from screws.

Yuffie whistled as she spotted the damage, leaning in close enough to almost have an eye taken out. “What happened here?” She wondered.

“What do you think?” The voice came from above – the loft – and Roxas was glad to see he wasn’t the only one who all but jumped out of their skin at the sound of it. “Blasted Heartless,” Merlin grumbled as he made his way down stairs, squinting at them through his spectacles. “I suppose the battle is over, then?” He asked, and Roxas wasn’t sure if he sounded put-out or thankful.

“They’ve retreated for now,” Leon sighed, and closed his eyes as he leant against the wall by Merlin’s front doorway.

Aerith, who appeared to have been about to explain to Merlin just what they were doing in his house, paused. “Retreated?”

“Yeah,” Riku said, and cut a side glance to Roxas. “Leon and I encountered some Nobodies up in the bailey; one of them was with the Organization. I think we can safely say they’ve taken control of the Heartless.” His eyes didn’t leave Roxas even for a second, as if he was trying to communicate something to him without speaking.

_Subtle,_ Roxas scowled. He wasn’t psychic, and he wasn’t Sora. If Riku wanted to say something to him, wanted him to understand some sort of secret code – then either he had to just come out and say it, or teach said code to him before trying to communicate with it.

"But if they sent the Heartless to attack us," Yuffie began, "then why would they call them away?"

"Gosh," Goofy said, rubbing a hand over his nose. "When you put it that way, it _doesn't_ make much sense, now does it?"

But Riku was shaking his head. "No, but this wasn't an attack - not really." He hesitated, as if uncertain as to whether or not he should continue. "I think it was more of a distraction than anything."

Aerith, halfway through the act of fussing over Cid and trying to get him to remove his shirt, paused. "Distraction?" She said.

"Yeah," Donald agreed. "What do you mean, Riku?"

Looking uncomfortable, Riku shrugged, and a horrible sense of realisation began to dawn on him.

"Sora," he whispered, and felt all the eyes in the room snap to him - even Leon's, when the man had previously had them closed. "This is about Sora."

It took a moment - a moment in which the stillness, the silence of the room was as oppressive and delicate as a cage made up of walls of spun glass - but after enough pleading eyes had switched their focus from Roxas to Riku, he nodded.

"If we're focused on fighting Heartless, then we're not finding Sora," he said. "If we're focused on rebuilding after a Heartless attack, then we're not finding Sora. Don't you see? This was all...just a distraction, so they can keep Sora hidden."

Riku's words made a horrible, terrible sort of sense, and they confirmed the idea that Roxas had had, not even a minute earlier - but at the same time, they made no sense at all, and he vocalised as much. "For the past year, the Organization has been _killing_ Heartless," he pointed out. "And Nobodies and Heartless kind of don't get along, in case you didn't realise - why would they be _commanding_ them?" He wasn't trying to defend the Organization, he really wasn't (okay, maybe _one_ of them) - but the fact was that the facts _didn't_ match up. If what Riku said was true, then everything he'd done in the past year didn't make any sense. If they could control Heartless, if they wanted Heartless out of the way - then why not just _order_ them to go?

"Hmm," Merlin hummed thoughtfully as he approached Roxas, absentmindedly vanishing Cid's shirt with a wave of his hand as he walked past. "I don't think you'll find the answer to those questions here," he observed. "An old friend of mine may serve you better."

Uncomfortable with the old wizard's close scrutiny, Roxas leaned back slightly as Riku exchanged looks with Donald and Goofy. "Friend?" Donald asked, head tilted to one side.

(Cid yelped as Aerith, who up until that moment had been frozen and staring at the conversation happening before her realised that Merlin had aided her in her quest to remove Cid of his shirt to better investigate his injuries, and pounced.)

“Yes,” Merlin said. “You and Goofy should know of him, at the very least – does the name Yen Sid ring any bells?”

Donald made a shrieking noise that had Roxas wincing, while Goofy startled. “You mean the King’s old master?” He asked.

Riku’s head jerked in Goofy’s direction, his gaze narrowing before flicking to Merlin. “Master?”

“Yeah!” Donald said, having gotten over his shock and managed to calm down. “He’s the one who taught His Majesty pretty much everything he knows.”

Roxas perked up. “Like…the Keyblade?” He asked, curious despite himself.

“Well, sure!” Goofy said to him. “The Keyblade, and magic, and heaps of other things!”

“Yes, yes,” Merlin said, as he walked over to one of his bookshelves and ran his fingers over the spines of the books kept there. “He lives in a sort of pocket realm, in the between space that circulates Twilight Town.”

Approximately none of that made any real sense to Roxas, but his overwhelmed brain managed to register at least two of the words the wizard had spoken. “Twilight Town?” He said, filled with a mix of trepidation and uneasy regret.

Perhaps picking up on that, or feeling something similar himself, Riku winced as Merlin spoke. “Hmm? Oh, yes – that world has always been a very strange one.” He sighed, and pulled a book from the shelf; after a brief perusal, he returned to stand among the group with the book in hand. “It’s always attracted all sorts of strangeness, nearly as much as your home islands.” He nodded to Riku, who tilted his head.

“What?” He asked, but Merlin had already moved on.

“Here,” he said, and held the book out. When no one moved to take it, merely staring between him and it with differing levels of bemusement and confusion, he sighed, and slammed the book into Roxas’ chest. Not expecting this, Roxas let out a ‘ _whoof_ ’ as he staggered a step backwards to regain his footing and balance, arms automatically rising up to hold onto the book.

“What is this?” He asked, and turned it over to look at the cover.

It was blank.

“Give it to Yen Sid, he’ll know what to do with it,” Merlin said. “And I daresay you’d best leave as soon as possible.”

“Aww, what?” Yuffie complained, and in the background, affixing bandages to a grumbling Cid’s chest, Aerith frowned over at the old wizard.

“Surely they can stay a little longer,” she said. “They’re all injured, look at them.”

Merlin sighed. “Shouldn’t you go check on your cake, Aerith?”

Aerith’s eyes widened as she was reminded of her home’s impending fire risk – but she shook her head and frowned at Merlin as she straightened her back. “Why do you want them to leave so quickly, Merlin?”

“I fear there may be more to this attack, and to Organization XIII’s abduction of Sora then what may first meet the eye.” Merlin tugged at his beard. “Time is of the essence, and they have very little of it free to waste here. They can always return here later, if they must, but for now they have to focus on their priorities. Yen Sid can help with that.”

Aerith opened her mouth, as if to argue further – but that was when Leon spoke up, contributing his opinion to the discussion. “We’ll be fine,” he said, and gave a slight smile that encompassed the entire group of Riku, Roxas, Goofy and Donald. “We were already rebuilding before you got here, now…we just have a little bit more work to do.” A self-deprecating laugh, and he nodded to Cid. “The old man’s managed to get communications up and running again, so if you need us, or we need you, we can just contact you through your gummi ship. Go and see this Yen Sid guy, and if he can help you find Sora, make sure to bring him for a visit before you drag him home.”

Riku laughed as Aerith deflated, backing down gracefully (if with a frown). “Yeah,” he said. “I’m sure that idiot’ll be glad of the chance to see you all again, anyway.”

“So we’re going?” Goofy said.

“Looks like it,” Donald said. “We should stock up on items before we leave. We don’t want to get caught in trouble without them.” This last part was punctuated with a stare at Goofy, who did _not_ look back at Donald, and Roxas wondered just what the story behind _that_ was – if it was something that had happened while they travelled with Sora or before they had met him, since he knew Donald and Goofy had known each other for years longer than they had known Sora.

“The four of us, then?” Riku asked, glancing between the others gathered in the room.

Roxas nodded his agreement. “Yeah,” he said. “Looks like.”

“Well, if you’re leaving, then make sure to stay safe, okay? We don’t want to have to come and pull you guys out of trouble.” Yuffie wagged a finger at them, a mischievous smile crossing her face.

Roxas rolled his eyes. “You sure it’s not the other way around?” He taunted.

Far from being offended, Yuffie laughed, looking delighted. “Ooh, feisty.”

Leon snorted. “If you go to round up your supplies now, you should be able to get a pretty good discount,” he offered. “The people of Hollow Bastion are very good at showing their appreciation.”

“And while you’re out doing that, I’ll take a look at your ship – maybe even upgrade it a bit,” Cid offered, shooing off Aerith and hunting around for a shirt to wear. “Damn it, woman, I’m _fine_.”

“Quiet, grandpa, and listen to your doctor,” Yuffie taunted.

Cid huffed, and rolled his eyes as he pushed Aerith’s hands off of him. “I’m not _dead_ , go heal someone who actually needs your help,” he said, and stood. “I’ll get started on your ship, then – should have her ready to go within the hour.”

“That should give us enough time to stock up on necessities,” Riku agreed, and flicked his eyes to Roxas. “You’ll have to keep the coat,” he said, and there was an apology in his voice, “but we can get you something new for you to wear under it, if you want.”

Roxas was suddenly very aware of the fact that the clothes he had on beneath his coat, while not exactly identical, were similar enough to be pretty much the same as the ones he had worn in the virtual Twilight Town. It was a sensation almost akin to realising he was surrounded on all sides by ghosts, and Roxas swallowed, throat suddenly tight and dry as he nodded. “That…would be great,” he said, an urgent sort of honesty in his voice.

“But we don’t have any munny,” Donald pointed out.

Riku stilled for a moment, as if hesitating – before sighing and reaching into the pocket of his coat to pull out a pouch that jingled when he shook it. A pouch that was _incredibly familiar_ to Roxas.

“That’s Olette’s,” he said, and realisation hit him like an anvil. “It was _you!_ ” He accused, jabbing a finger in Riku’s direction like a knife. “You’re the one who stole our money. You made me think I was going crazy!”

Riku shrugged, but even under the dark tones of Ansem’s skin, his blush was evident, and guilt played across the features of his face as he ducked back into his hood – a convenient hiding place; no _wonder_ Riku liked the damn coat so much.

Cid blinked. "You pulled that from a virtual space?" He gaped at the pouch, his cigarette (unlit and chewed almost to bits) falling to the ground from his open mouth.

Riku shrugged. "Yeah?" He said, and peered around the edge of his hood. "Why?"

"That - that shouldn't be possible," Cid muttered, slumping back into his seat and tugging at his hair, an expression on his face like Riku had just ruined his life. " _Shouldn't be possible._ "

Since a clear answer would clearly not be forthcoming from Cid, Roxas tilted his head at the others in the room that might have at least _some_ idea of what the old man was babbling on about. Yuffie shook her head and Aerith held her hands out in a helpless shrug, but Leon sighed. "There's a sort of virtual space here in Hollow Bastion, too," he said. "Or, well, we know it exists, or _did_ at the very least - there are references to it in some old notes and papers we've found scattered about the castle. We just haven't been able to make our way in, yet."

Cid scowled as if that fact was a personal insult to him, and Yuffie snapped her fingers as a lightbulb appeared to go off in her head. "Oh, right!" She said. "The security system thing that was set up by...someone," she faltered, a slight frown creasing at her forehead before she shook it off and continued. "The reports said that you couldn't pull items from virtual space," she said curiously, and stalked forward to inspect the pouch that Riku still held. "It would...go corrupt? Or...corrupt the real space? I don't remember exactly, but it was _something_ like that!" Quick as lightning, she snatched the pouch from Riku's hand and danced away before he could even move or _think_ to make a grab for it, crowing triumphantly as she tugged open the pouch's drawstrings. "Oooh, this is real munny, Squall!" She closed the pouch back up and tossed it overhead, to Leon.

He caught it, and frowned at her, muttering a half-hearted protest of _Leon_ as he himself looked into the pouch, and held up one of the small gold coins that he pulled from it, squinting at it against the light. "It _does_ look real," he agreed.

"Hey!" Yuffie crossed her arms and pouted. "I'm the White Rose of Wutai, the greatest ninja to ever live!" She jabbed a finger at Leon's chest. "And I _know_ counterfeit coins when I see them. Are you _doubting_ my prowess, Leon?"

Leon looked like a man that had just been confronted with inevitable, sanity ending doom (also a bit like he had just been forced to swallow a lemon whole) as he leant back from Yuffie, surreptitiously passing the money pouch back to Riku as he tried to escape...without it looking like escaping was exactly what he was doing, and thus give Yuffie reason to chase after him.

"Not at all," he said carefully. "I've never doubted your... _prowess._ " The word came out almost strangled. "But the fact remains - this is virtual munny. It's made up of data; composed entirely of ones and zeros. Outside of the virtual scape, it shouldn't be able to hold a stable form. But...it doesn't look corrupt, or warped, or like it's about to fade..."

"Real," Riku said quietly, interjecting himself into the conversation. "It seems real."

“So…we can buy stuff with it?” Roxas surmised.

Leon grimaced. “Technically yes,” he said. “As long as you ignore the morally grey area of purchasing goods with fake munny.”

“You _just_ agreed that it was all but real, Leon,” Yuffie pointed out. “And, like, as if _you_ can talk about morally grey areas.”

That…was an interesting lead off, and something Roxas was intrigued about, despite himself – but he pushed it from his mind, because what it basically meant was that they had munny, workable funds, with which to buy things. And so he walked up to Riku, and held out a hand. “Give me my share,” he demanded, and when Riku raised an eyebrow at him, responded with a pointed stare to let Riku know that he _very much_ remembered being the one to do most of the work that had _earned_ that munny, whereas Riku had done nothing but _steal_ it. If anything, the entire damn pouch of it was Roxas’ share.

“Do you even know what to look for when you’re buying?” Riku asked, sighing as he tugged open the drawstrings and meticulously counted out a handful of shimmering gold coins that he then handed to Roxas.

“Of course I do.” Roxas rolled his eyes. “More than you do, probably. I mean, I have Sora’s memories of shopping and how prices and stats work in different worlds. Didn’t you just rely on Maleficent for everything?” His tone was bland, but he couldn’t help but smirk as Riku recoiled a little bit – allies they may be, and Sora’s memories messing with his head beside, Roxas had yet to fully forgive Riku for everything the other boy had done to him; everything he had _planned_ to do to him. Guilt and remorse and reluctance or not, the bare fact of the matter was that Riku _had_ been going to erase Roxas’ existence. He wasn’t going to just _get over_ that.

It was clear to Roxas that Riku was biting back a scathing response as he smiled tightly at the Nobody. “Not for the past year,” he said flatly, and moved to the open doorway. “I’ll get ethers and potions. If you guys need new weapons or accessories, use your share of the funds to pick your own.”

Donald and Goofy nodded in agreement to that idea, and Roxas shoved his coins into his pocket.

“We’ll meet at the ship in an hour, then,” Roxas said, and moved to walk out the door, pushing past Riku even though every limb on his body still ached.

“Roxas!” Aerith called as he exited the house, and he turned to face her as he heard the rhythmic sound of footsteps thudding his way across Merlin’s floor. “Wait a second, I have something to give you!” She tugged him along the somewhat wrecked street, further from the house as Roxas stared at her with curiosity.

“Something to give me?” He asked. “What?”

She smiled at him gently. It was a nice smile, a warm smile, and tears almost – _almost_ – pricked at the corners of his eyes as his faulty brain automatically made connections without his permission and brought to mind an image of his mother – of Sora’s mother, _Sora’s mother_ – smiling almost exactly that same smile. It nearly made him sick to his stomach, but he toughed it out, by brute-forcing himself back into the present and reminding himself that this was _Aerith_ , not some middle-aged woman he didn’t know and had never met. This was – as reluctant as he was to admit it – his friend.

“Here,” she said, and – still smiling – pressed a hard rectangle of plastic into his hand. Pulling it back to him, he unfurled his fingers, and blinked at the words he saw printed there:

**HBRC** **★** _Honorary Member_

He frowned at Aerith’s ‘gift,’ and turned it over to see his name scrawled onto a white space on the back, written in a looping hand he was sure belonged to the girl standing in front of him, hands clasped behind her back and smiling expectantly.

He raised an eyebrow at her. “What is this?” He asked, trying to ignore how the slightly smudged _Roxas_ written in black ink on the card made something in his chest tight.

She tilted her head and giggled a bit, as if the question – and by extension, Roxas himself – were silly. “It’s your Restoration Committee Honorary member card, of course,” she said, before affecting a stern tone and wagging a finger at him. “It’s a very rare item, so be sure not to lose it, okay?”

He just stared at her, at an almost complete loss. “But…why?” He asked plaintively, bewildered. _Why me?_

“Well, because you’re our friend, of course!” Aerith’s cheer mellowed a little after she said that, and after a brief moment of hesitation, she reached forward to gently clasp his shoulder. “We gave Riku and Donald and Goofy theirs earlier,” she told him. “And Riku is holding onto Sora’s for now, since you’re probably going to see him before we do.”

Roxas choked up a little, his vision swimming. It took him a moment to register just what, exactly, he was feeling – but after he put his finger on it, there was no denying it. A sickening rush of warmth and happiness and – and _relief_ flooded through him as Aerith assured him that she (and probably the others, back in Merlin’s house) respected and liked him for him, for being his own person – not for being a blonde shadow of Sora; even if she hadn’t said as much in so many words, and not so directly, Roxas was thankful for the physical reminder as he gripped the card tight enough that it dug painfully into his palm, and took in a deep breath as he used his other arm to wipe away the few tears that had escaped.

“Thank you,” he said through a tight throat, and his voice was rough.

If he’d been anyone else – if, in that moment, he’d actually been Sora – Roxas thought Aerith might have hugged him. Instead, seeming to understand just how much he did _not_ like to be touched, or have people invade his personal space, she backed off, and gave him one final sad smile (it was also sweet, though – like Aerith herself). “Well, I guess I’ll see you around then, right Roxas?” She laughed. “I’d better go and check on my cake.”

Roxas felt a grin tug at his lips, too. “Yeah,” he said, and turned to walk to his original destination, the shops all clumped together in one area of Hollow Bastion, not too far down from where Merlin lived. “Until next time.”

-x-

Once upon a time, there was a boy.

He was an ordinary boy, nothing special, not really – at least, that was how he saw himself: paradoxically, nothing important yet simultaneously the most important person in the world.

Then again, that is normal for young people, isn’t it? So blind to the world around them, so focussed internally that they never really _listen_ to their elders, not in the sense of _understanding_ more than _hearing_.

This boy was no different – like I said, he wasn’t anything special, just an island boy that dreamed of adventure, of becoming something greater than his home, his family, his friends – the ball and chain and lock that held him back, held him down – of _being_ something, _someone_ , more than he was on that island of his.

So his heart called out to the worlds – and much like the princess, much like her hero – the worlds heard his cry, and the darkness came seeping in.

There are many things you could call this boy, the friend of the hero and the princess that started their journey. Fool, for one. Pawn, for another.

But the boy himself, realising just what he had done, and feeling remorse – remorse and fear and self-loathing beyond any such thing he had ever felt before – had an even better title for himself. After all, what part had he played in the hero’s story? In the princess’s? The witch may have called him ally in _her_ tale, but for the two most important to him, he was what? A villain, a traitor, a footnote?

No, he was something else, he felt, something entirely unimportant, and thus tried to erase himself from the narrative –

A fate befitting the biggest nobody of all, don’t you think?


	9. 〚09〛

The tour ended – perhaps inevitably, considering their party was made up of two teenage boys – in the kitchen, which astounded Namine. She’d had no idea that the Castle That Never Was had even _had_ amenities like a kitchen, and she’d spent the better part of a year spying on the Organization and their home base through Roxas’ eyes. She had, in the end, just figured that he’d – somehow – survived off of the ice-cream he’d always seemed so fond of, since the majority of his memories seemed to involve him eating it.

But a kitchen _did_ make sense, especially considering the fact that, unlike their Heartless counterparts, being physical existences; actual _human_ bodies – Nobodies needed to eat.

“You guys hungry?” Demyx asked, and strolled over to a chest coated with a thick layer of ice. Namine shrugged – she felt kind of sick, honestly, and the thought of even _trying_ to eat made her stomach lurch – and Sora frowned, before shaking his head in a negative.

“Not really,” he said, and leant against the island counter in the middle of the room – that was, once again, white.

(Namine sighed – she took back anything nice she’d ever said about the colour. She hated it. _Hated. It._ )

Demyx shrugged, before turning his attention back to the chest. She frowned as she watched him rummage through it, something about this room just seeming _wrong_ – and she didn’t manage to figure out just what that subtle discrepancy was, not until Sora voiced it out loud.

“No refrigerator?” He asked, tone of voice amused, and Demyx let out a laugh as he slammed the chest shut via a kick, holding what looked to be a carton of milk in his hands.

“No electricity,” he said. “We just keep the chests cold by constantly blasting them with blizzagas. Once, when Marluxia _really_ managed to piss off Vexen, they were like, frozen shut, and no-one could get into them for _days_.” He grinned. “It was one of the only times I’ve seen the bossman annoyed like that at someone other than, well, me.” He said it like it was a mark of distinction or pride, and Namine felt her head begin to hurt as she tried to process his words.

“No electricity?” She asked, digging for further clarification.

Thankfully, Demyx obliged. “Well, the entire world is pretty much one giant Nobody, you know?” He said. “All the broken remainders of worlds that fell to the Heartless make their way here, like one massive, never-ending puzzle. That’s why the Castle floats above it all – sometimes, pieces of fallen worlds just _pop up_ , and we’re never sure when or where or even _if_ it’s going to happen; so the Superior like, built this Castle, or hijacked it or something…” Demyx trailed off with a shrug. “The point is, this place?” He waved a hand around in a vague gesture Namine presumed was meant to encompass the entirety of the Castle That Never Was, while pulling a bowl and a box of cornflakes from a cupboard with his free hand. “Doesn’t exist.” He poured the milk he’d taken from the frozen chest into the bowl, shaking a generous amount of the cereal into it afterwards.

Sora whistled. “So, this place is like…a physical illusion?”

Demyx shrugged. “I don’t know,” he said, around a mouthful of cornflakes.

Maybe seeing that Demyx was not going to be good for conversation for at _least_ the next ten minutes, Sora turned to Namine. She probably wasn’t the best for conversing, either…but she forced herself to sit up straight, and plastered a smile on her face the moment Sora’s attention focused in on her. She hadn’t spoken up whilst walking with the two, for fear of what acting suspicious or territorial over Sora might cause Xemnas to do; for fear that Sora, with no memories and apparently getting along with Demyx just fine, thank you, would not appreciate it if she tried to get him to back away from the other Nobody’s friendly overtures. But the bare fact of the matter was that Namine _needed_ Sora to trust her – since, in the end, she really _was_ the only one here who was actually on his side, even if _he_ didn’t know that. She couldn’t risk alienating him by acting what could be seen as aloof towards the people he felt deserved his kindness.

Which meant…making friends. A daunting prospect, even if only because the last year of her life had been spent around two total social recluses and a comatose boy; all her time before that in the company of men and a woman who could be called monsters without ever really stretching the truth. Namine just didn’t _do_ ‘friends.’

But she’d managed to fool Sora, once (though admittedly, a great deal of mental manipulation had helped there), and upon meeting him, had actually managed to forge some kind of connection (she thought), so even if it was slightly difficult for her, she could do it. She _would_ do it.

She had to.

-x-

Letting his gaze travel lazily across the room, not really registering anything beyond vague shapes in the endless expanse of _white_ as his mind wandered, Sora smiled at Namine. That feeling of knowing her somehow hadn’t gone away as they walked, even as she seemed to shrink in on herself and remove her presence from the conversation (was she shy, maybe? Demyx had said he didn’t know, but Sora thought it kind of obvious that she _must_ be) taking place between him and Demyx, and even with that quiet, that silence radiating from her, she all but _exuded_ warmth to his senses, and he found it kind of crazy that she was staring at him with wide, anxious eyes as her lips tightened into what one day, far in the future, could _maybe_ become a smile, if it wished _really_ hard.

“Are you okay?” He asked, for absence of any other – better – topics to bring up. Well, that, and the fact that he was genuinely concerned for her. He didn’t know what was normal for Namine, whether she was this withdrawn usually or not – but she looked sad; a crease between her brows that hadn’t vanished since Sora had first laid eyes on her, and that hurt. Somehow, this girl – having her be sad _hurt_ him, and he didn’t want that.

Something flickered in her eyes, and her smile (just briefly) became more genuine. “I’m about as okay as I can be,” she said, and her voice was soft.

“If you’re worried about my memory, then don’t be!” Sora grinned at her, shifting from where he leant back against the counter of the kitchen island to cross both arms behind his head. “I don’t blame you for it at all, and it’s not like its actually bothering me or anything.”

Namine opened her mouth, probably to respond, a slightly guilty look crossing her face to let Sora know his attempt to reassure her and cheer her up had failed (and miserably) – but before she could get so much as a word out, an unfamiliar voice spoke from the shadows of the hall they had entered through.

“I am glad to hear it.” The voice was deep – not as much so as Xemnas’ had been, but far more than any of them already gathered in the kitchen, and Sora jumped, caught off-guard as the words echoed towards him, a scarred man with long blue hair that framed his face entering the room. “It would be a shame if you could not perform your duties because of your unfortunate state.”

(A part of Sora whispered that it was pretty sure those last words had been sarcastic, but the man spoke in such a flat monotone that he had no real way of knowing whether or not that was true.)

The man had yellow eyes – that was the first thing Sora noted about him, physically, and it made him immediately edgy, for no reason at all that he could put his finger on. It was as he tensed after taking in those yellow eyes that he fully registered the blue hair the man had slicked back from his face and realised – this was Demyx’s ‘bossman,’ the guy in charge of the day-to-day running of the Castle and ‘the Organization’ (whatever the Organization actually was); the guy in charge of the uniforms.

Well, Sora _had_ wanted a pair of those boots – and pretty badly, to be completely honest – but with the chill spreading through the marrow of his bones and freezing him stiff just from being under this guy’s gaze, the focus of his attention (he hadn’t _once_ so much as glanced at Namine or Demyx since entering the room), he wasn’t quite sure he wanted to spend more time around him then _absolutely necessary_.

“Yo, Saix,” Demyx greeted, the crunching that had filled the room as he ate his cornflakes silencing. “What’s up?”

Saix’s eyes flicked to Demyx for a brief moment before returning to Sora with a fixation that was almost disturbing.

“The Superior informed me that you were finally up and about,” he said. “If you’ll come with me, we’ll get you fitted.” His eyes traced over Sora’s body in a way that made him want to duck for cover. “It seems that our original plan for your clothing won’t do at all; his things wouldn’t fit you at all.”

“What?” Sora said blankly, confused, but Saix had already whirled around to stalk away, back down the hall, and before Sora could beg for more clarification or a clearer explanation from someone else, Demyx walked up and shoved him in the small of his back, in the direction that Saix had vanished.

“You should hurry,” he suggested cheerfully. “I don’t think the bossman is going to wait for you.”

Feeling overwhelmed and slightly outnumbered, Sora could only gape as Demyx gave him another little push, nudging him further in the direction of Saix – approximately the last place he wanted to be. Xemnas’ eyes had been yellow, but overall he hadn’t felt _creepy_ to Sora, just intimidating. Saix was on a whole different level and he _really didn’t want to be alone with him_. Like, at all.

But Saix had made it implicit in his words and actions that he expected Sora to come to him without an entourage, and even if Namine was willing to defy the ‘bossman’s’ unspoken order unlike Demyx, a quick glance her way revealed that she was all but frozen to her seat, eyes pale and frightened in a way Sora could fully empathise with.

So, with a sigh and moment to steel himself, mentally, Sora all but jogged out of the kitchen and down the hall to catch up with Saix, slowing once he had come into sight so as not to step to close to him.

“In here,” he finally said after what had felt like an eternity of wandering, holding open the door to a room Sora was nearly certain Demyx had said was out of bounds – maybe it was Saix’s sewing room.

The thought, while ridiculous, was also somewhat soothing, and as a slight smile played about Sora’s lips at the thought of the stoic man before him worrying over needlework, he took a deep breath and stepped into the room as Saix wanted.

It was, to his surprise, kind of disorienting. Unlike the rest of the Castle ( _literally_ ) almost nothing in this room was white, aside from the walls. The carpeting was dark, and there wasn’t really any furniture – just a single table upon which a bunch of the dark coats the Organization wore were heaped.

“There are a few in different styles; those should all be fairly close to your size.” Saix spoke from behind him in a seemingly bored, disinterested tone, and Sora jumped about a foot in the air because he wasn’t expecting the other man to be _that close_.

When he stared at Saix, he raised one eyebrow at him. “Well?” He drawled, and Sora felt his shoulders hunch defensively. He didn’t say anything against Saix, however – his nerves were still skittering and scraping against his spine just from being in this man’s presence; he didn’t want to aggravate him if he could avoid it. So, he instead walked wordlessly over to the pile of coats and began rummaging through them, grateful for the carpet that felt at least marginally warm on his bare feet – the marble that made up the rest of the Castle’s floors was not the most pleasant thing to walk on without shoes. Thankfully he could see a line of those really cool boots positioned under the table – he could only presume they were for him.

Saix didn’t say anything – didn’t even sigh, and if he was fidgeting Sora wouldn’t know because he wasn’t looking in his direction – but Sora could just _tell_ he was getting impatient, so he pulled his head out of the clouds and drew his attention back to the task at hand: selecting a coat.

On a base level, they were all pretty much the same. The same material, same colour and same silver accents – but there were little pieces of individuality in each one. For example, the one that he held up to his body was less of a coat, and more of a long tailed vest – there weren’t any sleeves, but other than that the coat was identical to the one Demyx wore.

Sora quickly threw that one down. It…wasn’t really his style. The next had long sleeves with loose cuffs, the one after that three quarter sleeves and pointed shoulder pads. He felt like he’d been picking coats up and throwing them down for about fifteen minutes when he finally found one that was at least _serviceable_ – it seemed looser, somehow, baggier than the rest of the coats, and (this was literally almost enough to make him cry) it had _short_ sleeves. He breathed a sigh of relief as he spotted this, and slipped into the coat before Saix could ask.

It didn’t fit perfectly – it _was_ loose around his hips and shoulders, and there was probably more room between the coat and his torso than there was meant to be – but it _did_ fit in the way that Sora liked it, and when Saix said that they should get it fitted to him properly, he very nearly backed away from the man defensively, clutching his new coat to his chest.

“I’ll fight better with it like this,” he said quickly, and Saix backed down immediately – or rather, just didn’t bother to put up a fight, seemingly not thinking that it was worth it.

“Then just pick a pair of boots so I can go,” he said. “After this you’ll be free to wander where you want – _within reason_ – and tomorrow the Superior will likely want to talk to you about going on some missions.”

Sora paused, halfway through the act of deciding if he wanted boots with laces or the kind you could just pull on. “Missions?” he asked, and reached for the ones with laces.

“Heartless extermination, mostly,” Saix explained. “Nothing you haven’t done before.”

Well…that was true – at least it _felt_ like it was – but that didn’t change the fact that Sora didn’t _remember_ killing Heartless, even if his body apparently did. He frowned, but didn’t make a comment on it, simply standing with his coat still on and his new boots held in his arms. “Socks?” He asked.

“In the draws in your room, probably,” Saix shrugged, and pulled a ring of keys from a pocket in his coat. “If you’re done, get out so I can lock up.”

Quickly, Sora hurried out the door, jogging in the direction of the kitchen, where he had last seen Namine and Demyx – trying to ignore how he could feel Saix’s gaze burning into the back of his neck.

By the time he reached the kitchen, the chill from being in Saix's presence had all but faded, and Sora - while not convincing himself he had imagined it - had managed to shove the anxiety the man had made him feel into the deepest corners of his mind, where his thoughts wouldn't linger on it. He smiled when he saw that Namine and Demyx were still sitting there, even if the two seemed to be caught in an admittedly awkward silence.

"Hey," he said, and sauntered into the kitchen proper, leaning across the counter and resting his hands under his chin. "I'm back."

Demyx blinked as he took Sora in, seeing the boots he placed down on the bench and the coat he still wore undone. He grinned, and nodded his approval. "Nice," he said, and Sora then turned to Namine, for her opinion.

And almost immediately, he straightened up from his slouched position. "Namine?" He asked worriedly.

She was pale, he saw - her skin ashen and bloodless as she looked him over. Her eyes were wide and - most horribly of all - she was shaking, fine trembles running all over her body as she _shook_ in her seat.

"I - I'm fine," she said, her voice trembling just as much as her body, if not more - and that was _clearly_ a lie, and Sora tilted his head at her, confused.

"What's wrong?"

"I said I'm _fine!_ " In any other circumstance, maybe those words would have been a snap, full of anger and vitriol at him for _presuming_ to know what she was feeling, rather than simply taking her word for it. But right then, at that moment - they were almost a sob, and she turned her face away from Sora, eyes clenched shut, as if she couldn't stand to look at him anymore.

It wasn't even a minute later that Namine looked up from where she'd buried her face in her shoulder to see the state the room was in, besides silence. Sora was stunned, and after dragging her gaze across Demyx and the empty doorway, her eyes fell to rest on him - and once she saw that shock in his eyes as stared at her, almost frozen, something in her - not so much _broke_ as it did _wilt_ , and her eyes welled up with tears that almost - _almost_ \- overflowed before she staggered to her feet, and fled the room.

The silence she left in her wake was near absolute, if it wasn't for the echoing of her sobs that Sora could still hear as he stood there, hand outstretched as if to grab onto a girl that was no longer there.

_What did I do?_


	10. 〚10〛

Namine choked back tears as she ran from the room, her mind clouded over with panic. Not enough panic for her to think her fleeing the situation like that had been anything but stupid, however - quite the opposite, actually, it had been _incredibly_ stupid, and as she berated herself she swallowed a sob and managed to stumble over her own feet, catching herself with one arm on the wall beside her before she crashed into the ground, her vision swimming as she stopped, and straightened, taking in deep, gulping breaths as she tried to calm herself.

What would Sora think of her now?

And it wasn't - wasn't like she could help it. She'd just - just seen Sora, seen him wearing that awful, _awful_ coat, seen him laughing and smiling in it, and she just -

Ugh, she didn't even know. But it felt like a loss, a blow to her and her psyche, to see Sora garbed like that, when everything she'd ever done since encountering him for the first time in Castle Oblivion had been to keep him safe from the Organization - to keep him _from_ the Organization.

And now, however temporary or necessary, he was wearing the coat. He was _one_ _of them_. _Would they give him a number?_ She wondered, and laughed humourlessly, bitter and broken as she turned so her back was to the wall, and slid down it, pulling her knees to her chest and burying her head away. _A new number thirteen – or maybe something else; how many members are left now? Six? Seven?_

She didn't even know where she was - she'd run blind but fast and far, and it wasn't like she'd actually been paying too much attention during Demyx's tour of the Castle - but she hoped that wherever it was, it wasn't a place Sora would either think to look or would be able to pass easily (if he even came looking for her at all; it wasn’t like they were friends, or anything at all to each other, really). She...didn't want to see him right now. Not really, not until she'd managed to get her head sorted out and her act together.

"Are you lost?"

Namine flinched, curling into herself briefly before she realised she recognised the voice - and, regardless of how much amusement there was evident in Axel's words as he gazed down at her, his eyes spoke another story. He was clearly still angry - and likely at her.

"...No," she said quietly, when it became clear to her that his question hadn't been rhetorical, and he _was_ waiting on an answer. "I'm just fine here, thank you."

Axel snorted. "Yeah, I'm sure you are." He stared down at her for a moment, gaze fixed and intense. "Get up, Namine," he said. "I need to talk to you, and I'm not doing it when you're crying on the floor of a hallway."

Namine hesitated - she didn't really want to go anywhere with any of the members of the Organization alone – after all, with the exception of _maybe_ Demyx they were all in the moment enough to realise she didn't like them or trust them, and proactive enough to act on that feeling. Only Xemnas' word could really keep her safe, as painful as that was to admit, and she wasn't _that_ sure of Axel's loyalty to the Organization in the first place.

If he wanted vengeance for Roxas, she would be the best place for him to start.

But at the same time, she owed him. If it hadn't been for him in Castle Oblivion, been for that brief moment of - mercy? Kindness? She would never have managed to encounter Sora, and all would have been lost to Marluxia; the only man in the world that had scared her more than Xemnas did, on a purely personal level.

And so, with that debt in mind, Namine wobbled to her feet, unsteadily taking a step in the direction Axel indicated - an open door just a little bit further down the hall, which she assumed was his bedroom (or at least _a_ bedroom; she could see a bed through the gap of the open door).

Once they were both in the room, Namine automatically sat on the bed, situating herself on the corner edge down by the foot of it. While she was doing this, Axel had been closing the door, and when he turned and saw her sitting on his bed, he paused for a moment, a wounded sort of look crossing his face - before he shook his head, and sighed.

"What is it that you wanted to talk about, Axel?" Namine asked, as if she didn't already know, as if this wasn't a facade she was putting up purely in an attempt to hide how nervous she was, sitting in this room with one of the people she had wronged most with her actions standing before her, with his arms crossed over his chest and a fire burning in his eyes.

“I think you already know, Namine,” Axel said, leaning against his closed door with arms crossed against his chest. His eyes locked with hers. “Roxas. What did you do to him?”

Namine’s mind blanked. Yes, she’d expected that Axel had wanted to talk to – confront her – about Roxas, but…what she’d _done_ to him? “What?”

Axel’s lips thinned into a line, and the features of his face tightened. “ _What?_ ” He snarled back at her, and her legs jerked in surprise from where they hung off the bed.

“I…I don’t know what you mean, Axel,” she said carefully. “I really, really don’t.” She hesitated, afraid that he would react badly, but took in a deep breath and continued anyway. “Where _is_ Roxas?” When she’d felt the tug on the link between her and Roxas back in the old Twilight Town mansion, she’d known immediately that someone had been taking him away from them – but also away from the Organization, and considering the fact that Roxas wasn’t here with them, she’d been right on that front, at least. But…Roxas clearly wasn’t here, and Axel’s line of questioning…

She’d assumed that the one to take Roxas had been Axel, but – had she been wrong?

Axel’s shoulders hunched, seemingly in response to her words, as if they were a physical force that he could _feel_ battering against him. “He left,” he said bluntly. “And I want to know _exactly what_ you did to him to _make_ him do that.”

“He…left?” Namine sought clarification hesitantly. “What do you –”

“He left to _help Sora,_ ” Axel all but spat the words. “That’s what he said – that he wasn’t going to come with me, because he _needed_ to help Sora. Needed to help someone he’d never met – someone you were going to _destroy him_ for.” His eyes were fixed on Namine’s with an intensity that made her want to fidget, but at the same time stay frozen still for fear that any movement – any _weakness_ – shown by her would trigger him into an attack; they burned a darker green, seemingly lit with an inner fire. “I know how you can mess with Sora’s head – we all do. What _I_ want to know, Namine, is if you can do that to _Roxas_ as well.”

Helplessly, Namine shook her head – not a negation of Axel’s words, but a sort of apology that she couldn’t give him what he wanted, only the truth.

As he realised this, as he realised that he was _right_ , no matter how much he _desperately_ didn’t want to be – Axel went white. Bone pale, the only colour on his face the angry red of the flush that tinted his cheeks; not from embarrassment, but rage, and Namine swallowed nervously – but held her ground. For over a year she’d despised her own existence, filled with regret for everything and anything she’d ever done – but Roxas – Roxas _hadn’t_ been her fault. And she _wasn’t_ going to let Axel make her feel guilt for him – not when the weight of her own guilt was already so crushing.

“You can, then.” He looked down at the floor, let out a low, bitter laugh. “I thought so.” He glanced up at her, and his entire personality seem to have become more subdued – deflated as if the knowledge that she _had_ manipulated Roxas’ memories had drained the fire – the fight – right out of him. “So,” he said. “What did you put into his head, Namine?” His voice was calm.

Namine felt her anxiety crank up a notch. “Nothing,” she said honestly. “Nothing that wasn’t already meant to be there.”

His eyes narrowed to slits as he considered her words, and he frowned at her. “Already meant to…you gave him Sora’s memories,” he realised. “ _Why_ would you do that?”

The question was plaintive, his tone almost lost. Namine lifted her chin and said clearly, proudly, “because it was the right thing to do.”

“And you didn’t do anything else?” Axel ascertained. “Didn’t make him think that the memories were _his_ , or anything?”

“Of course not,” Namine said, confused. “Why would I have done that?”

Axel sent her a dark look, clearly conveying just how little he thought of her and that statement. He only held the gaze for a second, though – staring down at his own feet and muttering to himself. “But if you didn’t…then why did he...?”

“Axel?” Namine asked, pushing herself off the bed slowly to edge towards him. “Are you okay?”

A moment of silence, and then –

“Get out,” Axel said quietly, and stepped away from the door, yanking it open. “Just…get out.”

She took one faltering step, and glanced quickly at Axel as she exited the room. His head was tilted down, his expression hidden from her view – but the tense line of his shoulders let her know that he wasn’t in the mood for talking – or her presence – anymore. The best thing she could do for him now was to leave, like he’d asked.

But she couldn’t just leave things like they were – so stilted and pained and weighed down with sorrow and guilt. “I’m sorry,” she said faintly, and stepped out of the doorway.

Stepped out of the doorway, and walked straight into the path of someone else walking _into_ Axel’s room – walked _straight into Saix_.

Before she could catch herself, Namine _eeped_ , flinching backwards from Saix as fast as she possibly could.

The man himself was unmoved – it had been like walking directly into a pillar of solid concrete; he hadn’t even budge from where he’d stood, and as she let out a startled breath he simply stared at her, his face impassive.

“You should return to your room, Namine,” he said bluntly, turning to Axel’s still open doorway – seemingly dismissing her the moment his gaze left her.

She stood, frozen, as he entered Axel’s room and pulled the door shut behind him. She had no idea why Saix would be going to speak with Axel, particularly behind closed doors, and she was, admittedly, _very_ curious as to just _why_ that would be – but the panic thrumming through her turned her legs to stone and her mind to echoing, discordant white noise. Her breath came fast, and if she’d had a heart she was sure it would be near beating out of her chest. Her memories that weren’t really _hers_ , but rather courtesy of Kairi, had taught her just what an adrenalin rush felt like, and the sensation she experienced now was remarkably similar.

Her head was swimming as she backed up another few steps from Axel’s now closed door, and then she was running down the hall, back in the direction she had come from in her initial panicked run, only one thought on her mind – _find Sora_. Whatever her misgivings about that coat, whatever her insecurities and fears, it had been stupid of her to run like she had – and she didn’t want to be alone anymore; didn’t think it safe to leave Sora to his own devices.

They needed to be together, or else they would never manage to get out of this cursed place.

-x-

Slumped against his wall, Axel jumped to attention as his door clicked shut, when he’d deliberately left it open – and looked up just in time to watch Saix stroll into his room like he owned the place.

If it had been anyone else, Axel probably (definitely) would have set them on fire – or at the very least ‘escorted’ them out of his personal space with _prejudice_. But it wasn’t anyone else – it was Saix, and Axel just sighed, knowing he couldn’t dodge this.

“Where have you been, Axel?” Saix’s voice was a near monotone, and his face, at first glance, seemed impassive – but Axel knew him like no-one else alive could claim to know him, and could read the tension in the corners of his eyes, the upset in lines around his mouth. “You’ve been gone for over a day; you should have made it back here far sooner.”

Letting out a huff, Axel pushed off of the wall, and stalked over to his bed to collapse onto the covers, studiously avoiding both Saix’s eyes and the corner of his bed Namine had sat on.

“I took a walk,” he answered finally, still feeling Saix’s gaze lingering on him, waiting (somewhat) patiently for him to speak.

“For more than twenty-four hours?” he said dryly. “A long walk, even for you, Axel.”

He blinked. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You’ve been vanishing for hours at a time for weeks.” Saix crossed his arms. “I would like to know _why_.”

Axel shrugged. “I don’t even know anymore,” he sighed.

Saix raised an eyebrow at him, tilted his head. “So can I presume that it will not continue to happen?”

Axel closed his eyes briefly. “…No,” he said finally.

Saix sighed, and when Axel flicked his eyes open to glance at him, he saw that he was slumped slightly in relief, running a hand over his scarred face. The tiredness – the bone deep exhaustion – that Saix felt was now clear to see, and Axel felt a stab of something that Lea’s memories wanted to label as ‘guilt’ take a stab at him.

“Good,” he said. “Good, that’s good, Lea.”

Something in Axel started at being called by that name by anything other than his own inner monologue – Saix and the Superior were the only ones who knew that name, after all, and neither used it particularly often – even Saix only did so on occasions when his exhaustion blended _then_ and _now_ together in a way that Axel was all too familiar with.

He didn’t comment on it, though. Regardless of whatever memories they both held, both shared – they weren’t Isa, and they weren’t Lea, and admitting to the moments of weakness when they forgot that was rarely anything but awkward…and honestly, kind of painful.

“Good?” He said instead, forcing a laugh to his voice.

Saix sighed, and shot him a _look_. “The Superior was growing concerned,” he said sternly. “Your absences reflect on your loyalty.”

“My loyalty?” He said. “Well geez, Saix – thanks for reminding him who it was that took care of his _problems_ in Castle Oblivion.”

If Saix had been the kind of person to emote at all, he probably would have rolled his eyes. Isa would have. As it was, however, he merely sent a deadpan stare Axel’s way. “Just don’t give him reason to doubt you again,” he said sharply. “You’re of no use to me - or anyone - as a Dusk. Remember that, Axel.”

Unlike Saix, Axel was the type of person to roll his eyes, and in response did so freely. "Roger that," he said, and rolled so his back was to Saix, signalling that he was very clearly _finished_ with this conversation - with this whole situation. "Are we done here?"

"One more thing," Saix said. "Namine. What was she doing here?"

Axel paused. "We had a little chat," he said carefully.

"I see." Saix's voice was edging dangerously close suspicion again, and Axel rolled his eyes once more even as he bit at his lip, grateful that he'd turned away not even a minute earlier. "And what was this chat about?" His tone was sharp, and as he spoke his next words like knives, Axel could _hear_ in his voice how his eyes had narrowed. "Roxas?"

Axel shrugged. "Yeah," he said, as flippantly as he could. "He was with them, apparently, but since the Superior himself took Namine when he grabbed the kid, it's not like she has any idea where he is now."

"Are you sure?" Saix asked. "If you know where Roxas is -"

"If I knew where Roxas was," Axel said, with a patience he did not feel, "do you think I would still be here?"

Silence. A stillness to the air that let Axel know that he had - however briefly - stumped Saix with his repsonse. "And just what is that supposed to mean?" He asked finally, his voice low and deadly, flowing like silk.

"That I'd hunt him down and bring him back here, of course." Axel glanced over his shoulder. "Seriously, we done?"

A moment's pause, and then Saix slowly nodded. "For now," he allowed. "And Axel - no more private chats with Namine." Something like hesitance shone in his eyes. "The Superior is keeping a very close eye on you."

_Yeah,_ Axel thought bitterly, dragging his gaze back away from Saix as he moved towards the door, curling up slightly by pulling his knees to his chest, ignoring how uncomfortable the buckles, accents and zippers on his coat were where they dug into him. _Yours, isn't that right,_ friend.

"I wouldn't want to talk to her anyway," he said out loud, and closed his eyes to the sound of Saix shutting the door behind him.


	11. 〚11〛

Sora did not understand girls. It was a thought that came to him easily enough, and it would have been fairly innocuous, too – except for one thing. It was a thought that felt like something he was familiar with – more of an exasperated mantra than a surprised revelation as he walked back to the room that was apparently his; alone, having turned down Demyx’s offer to escort him back as politely as he could.

So – the thought was familiar, even though Namine was the only girl he’d encountered, as far as he remembered – he must have known other girls?

Well, of course, logic insisted that he couldn’t have known _only_ males, that was utterly ridiculous – but it made him _think_. He could remember the most inane, unimportant things – for example, he knew that amnesia was _nothing_ like what they portrayed in T.V. dramas, because he could remember what those were enough to list the clichés and tropes in them, apparently; could remember that the sky was blue and one plus one equalled two, could remember how to read and write and spell and what order the alphabet came in.

But – nothing he remembered was something he could label as _personal_. That instinctive whisper, laughing in the back of his mind that _well, I sure don’t understand girls_ – seemed to speak of a personal experience with such difficulty as Namine was making him feel.

It wasn’t a solid deduction (far from it, actually), and it wasn’t really any sort of memory – but as he thought it, he stilled, pausing where he was walking down the hall, and a faint smile crossed his face – even if his memories were gone, it seemed that the personality of whoever he had been before was still around. He hadn’t lost himself, not yet.

“Sora!” Thudding footsteps, and Sora blinked as it appeared his thoughts had summoned the object of his confusion, his frustration. He turned, and there behind him – panting as if she had just run a marathon – was Namine.

When she saw he was looking at her curiously, her fast jog slowed to a walk, then a stop, and a few metres away from him she bent over to catch her breath, hands pressed to her legs just above her knees. He strolled to her, and when he stood just over her, she looked up – remorse clear in her eyes. “I’m sorry,” she said quickly, before he could get as much as a single word out. “I shouldn’t have acted like that, it’s just –” she paused, cutting herself off to take in a deep breath as she straightened. “You look a lot like someone I used to know,” she continued quietly, voice low and serious. “He was a part of Organization XIII, too, and seeing you wear the coat…” she trailed off, but Sora didn’t need her to continue – he understood, now, why she had reacted the way she did, and the dispelling of that confusion was enough for him. She already looked to be in enough pain – she’d apologised when she’d not really done anything wrong and given him an explanation that she didn’t have to – he wasn’t going to push her further by making her talk about something she clearly didn’t want to, not when everything was already basically all sorted.

So, he waved her off with a smile. “It’s fine, Namine,” he said gently, and she gave him a grateful look. “I understand.”

“Thank you,” Namine said, before smiling wider and changing the subject. “Are you going back to your room?”

Her eyes were resting on the coat he now held over one arm and the boots he’d tucked beneath the other, and Sora nodded his agreement to her words. “Yep,” he said, popping the ‘p.’ “I think I’ve had enough excitement for one day.”

She laughed – and while it was a very pretty laugh, light and seemingly free of worries and just as warm as Namine herself was to him – it drew his gaze to her face, and he couldn’t help but notice the red surrounding her eyes, the dried tracks of tears on her cheeks, shining under the white lighting that filled the castle’s halls.

“You’ve been crying,” he said, stunned, and her laughter cut off cold. He’d known when she’d fled the kitchen that she’d been near tears – they’d glistened at the corner of her eyes and choked up her voice when she spoke – but now his stomach sank almost to his feet as he faced the awful possibility that Namine had been missing for the past _nearly thirty minutes_ because he had made her cry. Most people didn’t want others watching them when they broke down, after all.

She was staring at him with wide eyes, and an expression like shock flitted across her face when she took in the guilt Sora could _feel_ crossing his.

“I – um, a little bit, yes,” she admitted, and bit at her lip. “But it wasn’t because of you!” She hurried to reassure. “I promise, Sora, I’m not upset with you.”

He couldn’t really bring himself to believe her, not fully – not when her tears were still visible and his guilt still lingered – but she was looking at him so hopefully, so he just nodded and gave her a slight smile, one corner of his lips tugging up. “Okay then,” he said, before a thought struck him, and hesitantly, he continued on further. “Do you – could you – can we, like, hang out for a little while?”

She blinked. “…Hang out?”

“Well…you were the one that found me, right? I mean, that’s what Xemnas said…” he trailed off. “I have…a few questions, and I’d like it if you could answer them? Maybe?”

She looked startled, as if the thought of Sora asking those questions had never even crossed her mind. “I – I guess?” She said, doubt showing in both her face and her voice. “I mean, sure.” She smiled. “I’d love to hang out with you, Sora.”

-x-

Goofy felt himself frown as he watched Roxas and Riku linger over Cid’s shoulder as the mechanic did what he called _some last minute touch ups_. Both boys had returned from their own shopping trips about ten minutes earlier, miraculously arriving with only seconds of each other – and since then hadn’t been anything but unfailingly polite to one another.

After the venom and vitriol shown on the ride to Hollow Bastion, it was slightly unnerving, but even if this newfound courtesy between them was shallow, skin deep at best – he wasn’t sure that confronting them about it would be the best thing to do, lest him bringing it up just set them both off even worse than before.

He sighed. Max and Sora had both been confrontational, liked to wear their hearts on their sleeves. Riku and Roxas, however, were more focused inward, keeping everything to themselves and their real thoughts and feelings close to their chests. It was a conundrum he wasn’t sure just _how_ to deal with, and Donald – lingering back at Merlin’s for a while longer, until they were ready to truly leave; making sure that Jiminy would be okay while they were gone (Aerith had reassured them upon their arrival to Hollow Bastion that they would do everything they could for the cricket) – wasn’t much help on that front.

 _How should I know?_ He’d said helplessly, when Goofy had brought the issue up. _I’ve_ never _had kids._

If Goofy had been in an argumentative sort of mood, he would have pointed out that Donald had spent plenty of time around his nephews and the other children around both Disney Castle and Disney Town – but in the end he had just sighed and dropped the subject, trusting in Riku and Roxas to sort their own problems out. They weren’t his children, after all – and so long as they were keeping the animosity between them under control, there were far more important things to worry about – for example, the fact that Cid looked close to braining one (or both) of his watchers with the large wrench he held in his hand as he fiddled with the ships controls.

Goofy couldn’t fully blame him for the mounting frustration that was showing quite visibly on his face – having two teenagers hovering over him so closely would annoy him too, honestly – but he couldn’t wait for the inevitable explosion to happen, when Cid decided that he had finally had enough.

So, “Roxas,” he called out, and as the boy turned, searched his mind for a conversation topic. “Are your new clothes comfortable?”

Okay, that was a stupid question, and it _definitely_ deserved the dry _are you kidding me_ look Roxas sent his way – but at least he turned his attention from Cid to Goofy. “Yes,” he said bluntly, and Riku snorted.

“What’s _that_ supposed to mean?” Roxas whirled on Riku, and Goofy sighed in tandem with Cid.

“Nothing,” Riku said, and even though his hood was covering his face, Goofy was pretty sure he rolled his eyes. “Those clothes do suit you better, though,” he allowed, and turned back to crouch by Cid.

Seemingly caught off guard by Riku’s words (compliment?), Roxas just blinked, before frowning down at his chest, gazing at the new clothes he wore.

They weren’t dissimilar to the clothes he’d worn under the coat before – kept to the same basic colour scheme, at least, shades of black and white and silver grey – less layers, long sleeves, and a pair of fingerless gloves that were nearly skin tight, thinner than Sora’s and without the decorations that his had had.

(It was unfair to Roxas to compare him to Sora, Goofy knew – but it was hard not to, especially when looking directly into Roxas’ eyes, the same blue as Sora’s were.)

He wasn’t sure if it was because of the coat he no longer wore (he’d tossed it into the gummi ship the moment he’d arrived in the garage Cid kept), or if something had happened on the walk Roxas had taken around the town while shopping for the past hour, but Riku _did_ seem to be right – the clothes _did_ suit Roxas better, even if he couldn’t put a finger on _why_.

“Are we nearly done here, Cid?” Donald’s voice came loud and echoing from behind Goofy, and he turned to see his long-time friend entering the garage, holding his staff and with Leon behind him.

“Ah, don’t rush me, you damn duck,” Cid snarled. “I’ll be done when I’m _fucking_ done.”

Donald looked affronted, and in the background, Goofy could hear the children snickering. A smile tugged at his lips in response – even as he fought it down to frown sternly at Cid for his language.

The man rolled his eyes, snorting around the unlit cigarette he’d had in his mouth since Goofy had first seen him that morning – but before he could retort, Leon sighed, and stepped further into the room.

“Jiminy hasn’t woken up yet,” he spoke plainly. “But Aerith and Merlin going to keep a close eye on him – we’ll contact you by radio if anything at all changes in his situation.”

Standing up, Riku nodded gratefully. Jiminy was, after all, one of their best chances for finding out what had happened to Sora. “Thank you,” he said, and Roxas grunted out a noise that _might_ have been agreement, as Cid pulled away from the mess of gears he’d been working on and slammed the hatch shut.

“’S about as good as I’m gonna get it,” he swore, glaring at the ship like it was personally and deeply offending him. “I don’t know when you last took this to get a check-up but you’re way behind the times.” He switched his glare to Goofy. “Get yourself a new ship, dammit, before this one falls apart on you.”

“Thanks for the help, Cid,” Leon said as the older man brushed past him to the doorway, and exited the garage. Once he’d left, he let out a breath, and turned back to face them – Roxas and Riku having moved away from the ship to come loiter closer to Goofy and Donald, all four of them roughly grouped together in the concrete area around the ship.

“Good luck,” Leon said sincerely. “I’m thinking you’ll need it.” Worry crinkled around his eyes as he said it, and none of them spoke up in protest, hearing the truth in his words even as they wanted to deny it.

“Yeah,” Riku agreed. “But, hey – not just Jiminy, you know? If anything _at all_ changes, like those Heartless, for example – give us a call. We’d like to help.”

Leon blinked at Riku for a moment, seemingly startled by his words – before a faint smile broke out over his face and he nodded, just once. “Sure,” he agreed. “Just make sure not to slack off – we all want to see Sora again as soon as possible.”

Riku inclined his head, and turned to climb into the ship. Donald followed, quacking something about how he wasn’t letting Riku anywhere near the controls – and Goofy sighed, before turning to Roxas as Leon left, raising his hand in one final goodbye.

Roxas also had one hand raised (though half-heartedly, it seemed), and he waved briefly at Leon’s back before slumping back down into the scowling position he’d been switching back and forth from all afternoon.

“Gee, Roxas,” Goofy said. “Y’know, when we said that the ship ran on happy faces, we weren’t kidding!”

Roxas grumbled, and shot him a glare that was just as half-hearted as his wave to Leon had been – before sighing and _forcing_ a smile that was more like a grimace to his face. “I – I’m just not in a good mood,” he said bluntly, hand gripping at the pocket on his chest, just over where his heart would be, if he had one. “I’m sorry.”

Goofy, with experience in dealing with moody teenagers, didn’t wave Roxas’ words off – but he didn’t encourage them, either. “Do you know _why_ you’re in a bad mood?”

His tone was gentle, like he used to use on Max when his son had had a bad dream as a child, or with Sora, on nights during their journey where his worry and grief for his islands and his friends was just too much for one child to deal with – and a flicker of _something_ lit in Roxas’ eyes as he sent a surprised glance at Goofy just in time for him to remember that Roxas had Sora’s memories; he would recognise this tone.

Thankfully, though, he didn’t try to shrug him off, or act angered at being ‘talked down to’ (Sora had never really reacted that way, but dealing with Max in his teenage years had sometimes been a _trial_ ), just mutely shook his head. "Do I need to have a reason?" He said plaintively.

Goofy shook his head. "Of course not," he reassured. "But you might feel a little better if you can figure out why!"

A thoughtful look crossed Roxas' face, just in time for Riku to poke his head out of the gummi ship, a vein beginning to throb in his forehead.

"Any day now," he called down. "Preferably soon, before I murder the duck!"

A rapid fire shout of unintelligible noise from deeper within the ship - Donald - echoed out and Riku turned his attention from them to continue whatever row he'd started with Donald over the ship's controls. A quick glance at Roxas revealed an amused look on his face.

"We should probably get going," he said wryly. "Before they really _do_ try to kill each other - or Donald zaps the motherboard when trying to hit Riku."

Visions of rampant destruction and being trapped on Hollow Bastion when they _needed_ to get to Yen Sid as soon as possible played in Goofy's mind, and he shook his head, because Donald - while incredibly intelligent; how else would he have earned his position as court mage? - was hot-headed like no-one else Goofy had ever known, and that inability to cool his rage at times blinded him to his surroundings. He could be _very_ trigger happy with his magic, and it wasn't hard to imagine him electrocuting - or setting on fire - something important in a quest to teach Riku a lesson.

"Well then, let's go!" Goofy agreed, and led a slightly smiling, somewhat happier Roxas into the ship.

"About time." Riku's voice was relieved as he settled back into his chair, still positioned in the back (Donald had managed to shoo him off, then - that, or Riku had decided that the hassle wasn't equal to the effort); he studiously ignored the muttering coming from the front, where Donald was flipping switches and swiping at screens.

Wordlessly and without prompting, Roxas slid into his own seat, just beside Riku's with little fuss, that amused smirk still playing about his lips as he took in Riku's clear annoyance with equally clear glee.

Goofy just sighed - he'd wanted Roxas to feel better, sure, but not for him to take happiness from other's suffering - and headed up the front with a wave that neither of the teens returned.

"Are we good to go, then?" He asked as he sat down beside Donald, who acknowledged him with a quick side glance before turning back to the controls.

"Yeah," Donald said. "I just put Yen Sid's coordinates in." He looked up, directly at Goofy, and he could see the self-deprecation in his eyes. "His tower is right by Twilight Town - pretty much just next door from where we woke up. We could have seen him days ago! He probably knows where His Majesty is -"

"We don't know that," Goofy broke in, and wondered how he was the one with his head on straight out of this group. "Don't start worrying over what could be nothing, Donald. His Majesty wouldn't want you to blame yourself for any of this - he chose to stay in the Realm of Darkness, and Riku got out, didn't he?"

He watched as his long-time friend turned his words over in his mind. When they'd realised the Ansem lookalike was actually Riku, back in the old Twilight Town mansion when they'd first woken up, they'd hounded him with questions about their king. Riku had told them all he knew - sadly, not all that much - that Mickey was out of the Realm of Darkness and off doing his own thing to protect the balance and keep the worlds safe, and the last time they had made contact he had been fine, if worried. As soon as they had gotten that news, they'd switched their focus to worrying over Sora, who was likely in terrible danger - but that didn't negate the worry they felt for their friend and king, and the idea that his old master might have some idea on his location was an admittedly tempting one.

"We just need to focus on finding Sora for now," Goofy continued. "I mean, the king will probably turn up to help us search, anyway! He'd never abandon another Keyblade wielder - let alone a friend!"

Donald nodded once, slowly, accepting his words as truth. "You're right," he said, and pressed down on the switch that would lift them off. "Let's go."


	12. 〚12〛

At first, given how Namine had been acting around him, Sora was almost certain that bringing her back to his room so they could talk was going to be _awkward_. So far, Namine had spoken very few words to him – or anyone, really, saying only a handful of things to Demyx and seemingly ignoring Xemnas and Saix altogether from what he could remember when he cast his mind back – and had shrunk in on herself frequently, at multiple times throughout the day – so he felt that this worry was at least _somewhat_ justified, too.

He couldn’t be sure – given that he couldn’t remember anything beyond a twenty-four hour period at the very most – but something told him that never before in his life had he been so grateful to be wrong.

Maybe Namine was just bad with more than one person at a time, maybe nursing him back to health had helped her to grow used to him – whichever it was, once they were in his room alone and the door was closed shut behind them, she became much friendlier – showcasing that warmth that Sora had just automatically made him think of from the moment he’d opened his eyes and seen her.

She was still quiet – must’ve just been a Namine thing – but not in the awkward, stilted way she had been all throughout the day. She was simply soft spoken, it seemed, but her smile made up for it as she answered the questions Sora threw her way.

_Where did you find me? How badly was I injured? Do you know who I was, before?_

Some of those questions, Namine couldn’t answer. She hadn’t known him before he’d had his ‘accident,’ apparently, so the questions he most wanted answers to – his personal memories, what he’d been like and if he had any loved ones back wherever his home was – she hadn’t been able to help him with. She’d apologised for that, but Sora had reassured her that it was fine – she shouldn’t be apologising for things that weren’t her fault; that she couldn’t have helped in anyway. After all, it wasn’t like she was the one to blame for his missing memories.

When he’d said that, her face had frozen for a fleeting moment, something like horror shooting across it. Fearing he’d upset her and not wanting to offend her, Sora had been quick to explain that he hadn’t meant anything by the comment at all – like he’d said, he just _knew_ that she couldn’t have been involved in anyway – not with the way the warmth that said things like _home_ and _safe_ surrounded her.

But the other questions he’d asked – slowly, she answered them to the best of her ability. He’d been found on the outskirts of the World That Never Was, arriving with the pieces of a world that had fallen to the Heartless – he himself nearly suffering that same fate. She and Xemnas had found him, Namine had explained, when he was bringing her to the Castle That Never Was from wherever it was that she had been based before when they encountered him. After that, it was merely needed for her to heal him.

“But then, how do you know me?” He asked, confused. “Xemnas already knew my name when I woke up, and what he said about Keyblades…it doesn’t _sound_ wrong.”

“Keyblades are rare, Sora,” Namine said. “So when the one that saved the worlds washes up on your shore, it’s pretty hard _not_ to recognise him.”

Sora blinked. _Excuse me, but what?_ He thought. “I did what now?”

“About a year ago…” Namine hesitated. “It might be best if you remembered this on your own,” she said apologetically, but Sora shook his head in response to her words, _no_.

“It’s not like you were there when it happened, Namine,” he pointed out. “So you don’t have any firsthand knowledge of whatever happened, just hearsay. And…I’d like to have _something_ I can claim as at least a partial memory.” He sent pleading eyes her way. “And, who knows – it might actually _jog_ my memory.”

She sighed. “You fought against the Heartless,” she said. “You defended the worlds, Sora – there’s not much else to it.”

He squinted at her. “If you say so,” he said, and she smiled sadly.

“I’m sure you’ll remember it all one day,” she comforted. “But…I can’t really tell you anything more than that. I’m sorry, Sora.”

He shrugged. “Actually…” he said. “I guess it’s getting kind of late, isn’t it? You should probably go back to your room, or something.”

Namine blinked at him. “Huh,” she said, and blinked. “Actually, I’m…kind of hungry.” She sent a questioning look Sora’s way. “Since you didn’t eat earlier, you must be too, right?” She frowned. “You haven’t eaten in like two days; we should head down to the kitchen.”

Sora tilted his head, considering. “I’ll go down to the kitchen with you, sure,” he said. “If that’s what you want. But…I’m not really that hungry? Like, at all?”

Namine’s frown deepened. “Maybe because you were asleep for so long?” She hazarded a guess, which had Sora blinking in surprise because he was under the impression that he’d been out for a day, tops. “Whatever it is, you should eat, Sora. You can’t survive off air alone.”

He inclined his head, acknowledging her point, even as the thought of eating made him almost physically ill. “Just something light and easy, then,” he conceded, and stood from where he had been seated, on the edge of his bed – hovering besides Namine’s chair and offering her a hand to help pull her up in a move that felt natural, as if he’d done something similar to it all his life; for so long it was ingrained into his muscles and body as its own sort of memory.

She paused as she moved to slide out of her chair – her eyes wide and fixated on the hand he held out to her. She let out a slight laugh as she reached out to take it. “Thanks,” she said, and amusement shone in her eyes.

“You’re welcome,” Sora grinned, and pulled her to her feet. Then he froze. “…You _do_ remember how to get to the kitchen, right?”

A moment’s silence, and then –

Namine burst into laughter.

-x-

It was crazy, and inappropriate, and some part of her was convinced that this was the result of her mind finally snapping – but Namine couldn’t help but choke on her laughter, bent near double in hysterics. It was just…it was just such a _Sora_ thing to do, to forget the location of the places he’d been shown earlier in the day.

It was pretty much the only funny thing that had happened in a day – or longer, even; probably a year – but the fact that it had followed on the tail of what was likely the biggest lot of lies she’d told since she’d come into existence, clarifying and building on _Xemnas’_ lie by not contradicting it. She could just _imagine_ him watching them talk (regardless of how relaxing the feeling of being alone in a closed off room had been, just her and Sora – it was clear to her that Xemnas would never allow such a thing to happen; he’d been watching them, no doubt. She didn’t know _how_ – but she knew, all the same) and _smirking_ over it; proud, smug and self-satisfied with how his plan was coming together – how it had _trapped_ her.

But, in the end she couldn’t worry about those things, not really. It wasn’t in her current power to actually _do_ anything about it and constantly thinking on and obsessing over it would just drive her mad. For now, with a slightly bitter aftertaste coming as an end to her laughter, Namine simply took in a deep breath and told herself that it was okay to find as much happiness as she could in any situation – gods knew she needed it.

“Yes, Sora,” she said, and her amusement shone through in her voice, too. “I do remember how to get to the kitchen.”

Sheepishly, he grinned. “Well then, lead the way,” he said, and walked to the door to pull it open as he gestured for her to walk in front of him.

She nodded, and stepped forward. Once in the hall, the door shut with a _click_ behind them as Sora pulled it closed, and he fell into step beside her as they walked in a peaceful silence, keeping pace easily enough.

“I know you said we didn’t know each other before,” Sora spoke up after about a minute of walking in mutual quiet, his voice soft in the still air of the castle’s halls. “But are you sure we didn’t ever meet? Or run into each other?” His gaze was piercing as he gave her a once over with a side glance. “Not even once?”

Namine shook her head firmly, _no_. “I wouldn’t lie to you about this, Sora,” she said, and tried to ignore how her throat closed and her mouth just tasted like bile and ash as the words burned her deep inside when she spoke them. “I – you feel familiar to me, too,” she allowed, since she could _tell_ where he was taking this. “But like I said, you look like someone I used to know.” She gestured at the coat he still wore, and he tilted his head in acknowledgment, eyes still fixed on her with a sort of curiosity burning in them. “And memory is a funny thing, really. Maybe I remind _you_ of someone, too – and deep down, your heart remembers them.”

She winced as she said that last sentence out loud – it wasn’t like she’d said anything _specific_ , but she had still clearly been hinting at Kairi, the one most important to Sora – her Somebody, and Xemnas (still definitely watching) would know that, even if Sora didn’t recognise her small defiance for what it was.

No, Sora – seemingly processing her words, giving them genuine consideration – had turned his gaze away from her to frown down at the floor while he thought. “Maybe,” he finally said, voice low and quiet just as they turned into the open space that was the kitchen.

Namine floundered a bit as they walked in and she realised – she may have known where the kitchen _itself_ was, but she had literally no idea where anything specific was _placed_ in the kitchen.

_The chests are kept cool,_ she reminded herself. _Meat and dairy and who knows what else._

Well. It was as good a place to start as any, and she quickly flitted to the chest closest to her, levering open the top to see a selection of cold cut meats – pre-sliced ham and turkey and chicken. She turned to Sora, who had settled against the island counter in the same position he had earlier on, right next to the chair that she had sat in, and held up one of the packages wrapped in butcher’s paper with a questioning look on her face. “Are sandwiches good if I can find bread?”

Sora shrugged, a crease forming between his eyebrows as his face scrunched when he considered just what she held in her hand. “I guess?” He said, and shrugged again. “Like I said, I’m not exactly hungry, Namine.”

She felt a frown of her own begin to form as she kicked the chest shut, holding the turkey to her chest as she made her way to the shelves and cupboards lined along the far wall. “Really, not at _all_?” She stressed, and Sora spread his hands out in a gesture that she could only translate to helplessness.

“It’s not like I can control whether or not I’m hungry,” he pointed out dryly. “I know I still need to eat, though, even if it doesn’t feel like it – so just make whatever you want and I’ll be fine with it.”

That answer still didn’t satisfy Namine – but it was clear to her that Sora had made his mind up and was sticking to what he’d said; she merely sighed, and placed the turkey down on the benchtop as she bent down and began to rummage through the lowest cupboards first in her search for bread.

She found only dishes at first – ceramic porcelain bowls, plates and cups all stacked in neat uniform rows together, more than the Organization would logically ever need and all entirely white, as she had already come to expect from anything at all to be found or used in the Castle That Never Was – and then, moving on and making her way _up_ the rows of storage on the wall, there were knives and forks and spoons and tiny pronged skewers, all made from stainless steel and shining as if new.

“Huh,” she said, and glanced over her shoulder as the pause in her own work made her realise she wasn’t the only one rummaging through the kitchen as noise continued to echo throughout the room, even though she had stopped – Sora, either having grown bored of watching her struggle to find where the dry foods where kept in this hellhole or finally discovering an appetite, had pushed off from the island counter and stalked over to the cold chests – she’d only looked through the first one, after all, but as she watched him make his way through the others gathered there she blinked as he pulled out cheese, and then a tub of butter, and then a bag of what looked to be iceberg lettuce, followed by a container of what looked like beetroot slices.

_How on earth are they getting this food?_ Namine wondered. She’d known, after all, that they _would_ have food here – as a physical living existence, Nobodies _needed_ food to fuel them, just as they needed sleep and shelter lest they fall to exhaustion or illness – but she hadn’t expected _this_ ; pre-packaged foods and cutlery that looked as if Xemnas (or whoever was in charge of keeping the kitchen in stock; maybe Saix, again? It was an amusing picture for her, to imagine the coldly terrifying second-in-command of Organization XIII in various domestic settings) had simply walked into the local supermarket of whatever world they found themselves in on any given day and left with bags full of produce. It was _bizarre_.

She was jerked out of her thoughts and snapped back to reality by the sound of Sora’s voice – she blinked her vision back into clarity and stared at him. “What?” She said.

“I said, do you want any of this stuff?” He gestured at the cheese and salad that surrounded him, in a neat little pile on the floor, before craning his head to examine the still open chest behind him further. “There are eggs and everything in here,” he said, and shot her a grin. “In a _treasure chest_.” He shook his head. “ _Wild_.”

Namine let out a short back of laughter. “I guess,” she said. “And yes, some salad would be nice, thank you.”

With a nod, Sora gathered up in his arms what he had already pulled from the chest and placed it on the island counter before turning back to slam the chest shut. “You need any help?” He asked, his voice amused.

Namine scowled. “These cupboards make no sense,” she complained. “What even is the setup, here?” And digging through her memories of what she’d seen and learn via Roxas’ memories didn’t help her at all – she doubted Roxas had ever even entered this kitchen, let alone known that it existed.

A hand entered her line of vision – Sora’s hand, and _boy_ it was weird to see him without his gloves on. His hands were pale, and there were faint scars – knicks visible on the skin over his knuckles. Since the scars were such minor details in Sora’s mind, in Sora’s memories, even searching through them wouldn’t tell her how he had gotten them – but she couldn’t help but wonder: were those a leftover physical reminder of his childhood on the Destiny Islands that not even she could erase, or a souvenir from his time roaming the worlds as a Keyblade wielder?

“Here,” he said, and his hand tapped out at one of the cupboards she had yet to inspect, just above her head. “Bowls and plates on the bottom, then cutlery – it makes sense that food would be in this row, right?”

Namine shrugged. In a normal world, it would – but for as much as they claimed to be creatures of logic and intellect, the Nobodies of Organization XIII were far from _anyone’s_ idea of normal. “I guess?” She said, and ducked under the arm he still had extended out over her. She reached up and pulled open one of the doors – sacks of rice and flour, herbs and salt and sugar, but no bread. She glanced over her shoulder at Sora, who was scanning the cupboard of the door he had pulled open – he looked back at her and shook his head. “Cans,” he said by way of explanation.

She sighed, but cheered up when she tugged the next door open, moving down the line – bread and boxes of crackers all lined up. “Eureka,” she said, and pulled out a pre-sliced loaf.

“Hallelujah,” Sora smiled, and nudged the cupboard door shut for her.

She turned around, and held back a small giggle as she saw how Sora had just _dumped_ the salad items across the counter – she shoved the bag of lettuce to the side, and placed the bread down.

“Do you want a breadboard, or something?” Sora asked as he wandered over to peer curiously at her sandwich from the other side of the counter. She shook her head _no_ , but thanked him for the offer anyway as she pulled out several slices of bread and began to spread butter over them before piling on salad and turkey slices.

“Here,” she said, and handed Sora a sandwich – packed to the point of nearly falling apart but still good, if haphazardly slapped together.

He blinked at the sandwich as she held it out to him – but rolled his eyes and took it without argument. He grimaced as he took a bite from it but offered no complaint, and just continued to eat it in silence as she moved on to making her own sandwich.

“Does it taste bad, or something?” She asked with a frown on her face, and surveyed the food she had spread out. “Is it the turkey?”

Sora shook his head quickly. “Nah,” he said, around a mouthful of food. He swallowed, then continued. “I’m just not that hungry, _like I said_.”

There was a faint trace of annoyance in his voice when he said that, and he bit down on his sandwich almost _violently_ – Namine had to remind herself that it wasn’t weird for Sora to get sick of her…mothering; after all, it wasn’t like he _knew_ her.

Still – it seemed strange, at least to her. _Not being hungry_ meant not really wanting to eat – it didn’t equate by being apparently _disgusted_ by whatever you were eating, especially if it wasn’t actually _that_ bad: something she could substantiate herself, given that with a single bite of her own sandwich she could say, quite honestly – that while it wasn’t by any means a gourmet masterpiece or anything close to the greatest thing she’d ever eaten, it wasn’t bad at all. It tasted just fine – exactly like a salad and turkey sandwich should taste.

Sora seemed to pick up on her discontent and confusion, because he sighed. “Sorry,” he said quietly. “It’s just – I think today is finally getting to me.” He slumped slightly, his shoulders falling. “It just hit me, I think,” he said, and tilted his head back to gaze at the high ceiling above them. “That I have _amnesia_.” He laughed, low and bitter.

Namine stiffened. “You don’t have to apologise,” she said quickly. “I understand, Sora.”

He sent her a weak smile, and shoved the last bite of his sandwich into his mouth. “I think I want to sleep,” he said. “Do you need any help clearing up, or are you okay here?”

The weight of the guilt she felt was near crushing – and Namine nearly tripped over her own tongue in her hurry to reassure Sora that she was fine on her own (though _on her own_ was pretty much the last thing she wanted to be, right now). “I’ll see you in the morning, then?” She said.

Sora nodded, and after a moment of hesitation, he slowly walked out of the room, leaving Namine alone, with nothing but her sandwich and her regrets.


	13. 〚13〛

Riku gazed up at the tower before him, craning his head to see all the way up to the tallest point. After the ship had docked at the pseudo world on the outskirts of Twilight Town that apparently had an aging Keyblade master – _Mickey’s_ master – living in it, Goofy and Donald had been quick to rush down the ramp and onto the grass, Roxas following at a slightly more sedate pace – but Riku found himself near frozen as the tower caught his eye.

It just – it didn’t make any sense. It was leaning, and crooked, and it looked as structurally unsound as that tree house Sora had once upon a time tried to convince him was fine, perfectly safe, why do you ask? – just before the floor had given way beneath him. He hadn’t ended up _breaking_ his leg, luckily (Sora’s mother would have _killed_ him) but he’d been confined to bed rest for weeks and ever since then Riku had had an uncanny eye for unstable buildings; Yen Sid’s tower set off every alarm he had like crazy.

“What are you doing?” It was Roxas, paused and hovering between Donald and Goofy and Riku, sending a look caught somewhere between confusion and _maybe_ concern back Riku’s way.

“The tower,” Riku grunted, and began to move forward, falling into step beside Roxas – for whatever reason, the Nobody had waited for him. “It hurts my head to look at it.”

“Huh?” Roxas tilted his head back with narrowed eyes and squinted gaze to take in what Riku had already observed, and made a thoughtful humming sound. “I guess,” he agreed cheerfully – probably pleased by Riku’s confession of a headache. Absentmindedly, Riku wondered if the Nobody had just discovered one of his new favourite places. “It’s magic, though, isn’t it?”

“Probably,” Riku agreed – and tensed. Roxas, while not Sora or Kairi or Mickey – basically not anyone who had any _right_ to be picking up on the subtle cues that made up Riku’s body language – definitely saw it, and followed suit.

“What is it?” He asked tersely, shoulder’s rising like the hackles on a dog and hands twitching in readiness to summon a Keyblade.

“Darkness,” Riku said, the taste of it thick on his tongue and acrid against the wall of his throat – a specific kind of darkness, a type that he recognised _very_ well, especially after the battle at Hollow Bastion hours earlier (it was hard to place an exact time on how long ago the fight had been – on the outskirts or caught somewhere in the middle of Twilight Town and the Lanes Between or no, apparently Yen Sid’s realm was ‘Twilight Town’ enough to be caught in a perpetual sunset) – “Heartless,” he said, and his voice was a snarl.

Roxas blinked. “ _Here?_ ” He said, voice somewhere between an exclamation of surprise as he called Oathkeeper out, crouching down into a defensive position as he held the blade out, ready.

“At the door,” Riku said, and broke into a quick jog. “Donald! Goofy!” He called out, and the two turned around, stopping in their tracks, only a short way away from the tower proper.

“What is it, Riku?” Goofy asked, turning to face him directly as he slowed to a stop in front of the duck and dog with Roxas just behind him, gaze flicking to the Keyblade Roxas still held at the ready. As they took in the weapon, the two stilled, a serious look passing on both of their faces.

“Heartless,” Riku said bluntly in answer to their unspoken question. “Right up ahead.”

Goofy and Donald exchanged a glance – and then Goofy was raising his shield and Donald was holding out his staff, both looking focused and ready to fight against an entire army of heartless – he would know; they’d both had that exact same look on their faces the day before.

They all exchanged a look – and rushed forward, Riku flinging out a hand to pull through the darkness to call on Soul Eater as he ran, darkness roiling with silvery motes of light as it solidified to lethal sharpness and edges in his hand.

As he reached the tower – first, with Roxas just behind him, Goofy and Donald lagging slightly behind, though Donald _did_ blast the Heartless with volleys of ice as they seemed to notice that there were _people_ rushing up to them with weapons drawn and the intent to fight – Riku cut through Heartless after Heartless with ease – Soldiers and Shadows; nothing dangerous, at least not to him, certainly not to all four of them fighting together.

It took only about ten minutes – Riku barely even broke out in a sweat – and it was soon after slaying all the Heartless and realising that no more were emerging from the Realm of Darkness, no rifts being torn through the world from the Lanes Between – it became clear that the Heartless hadn’t come here, to this tower, for no reason.

“Pete!?” Donald and Goofy exclaimed in unison, and Roxas and Riku exchanged a curious look as the guy beating at the large double doors that acted as the entrance way to Yen Sid’s tower whirled around (at the sound of his name?) and jabbed an accusing finger in the direction of the two.

“You!” He said.

Not entirely convinced this guy _wasn’t_ an enemy, Riku refrained from sending Soul Eater back to whatever void of darkness it existed in when he wasn’t wielding it – but lowered his guard some, easing into a more relaxed stance as he raised an eyebrow at Donald and Goofy. “Friend of yours?” He asked dryly, already knowing the answer, and snickered at the scowl Donald shot him.

“Not in a million years!” He snarled, which was something Riku had not even once ever thought a duck capable of doing.

“Well, Pete’s always been a bit of a troublemaker,” Goofy said over his friend, drowning out a series of indignant quacks that switched from being addressed to Riku and yelled at Pete. “He was banished from the castle _years_ ago.”

At those words something jolted inside of Riku, and he looked over Pete with new appraisal in his eyes. He still didn’t look like a threat – not by any definition or stretch of the term – but Mickey wouldn’t just exile him for no reason. He narrowed his eyes. “Why are you here?” He called out, and Pete – who had been in the middle of a glaring contest with Donald – jumped, before turning his head to look at Riku.

He squinted at him, and Riku was suddenly _very glad_ he was wearing the hood up – because it struck him, in that moment, that he recognised Pete – not as a person or a voice, but as a silhouette he hadn’t paid much attention to a year earlier, lingering around Hollow Bastion only long enough after he had washed up on its shores fresh from the darkness that had torn his islands apart for Riku to register (and thus remember) him.

“You worked for Maleficent,” he realised out loud. “One of her lackeys.”

Donald and Goofy started, staring at him with wide eyes as beside him Roxas tilted his head in consideration – likely digging through Sora’s memories for confirmation on who, exactly, Maleficent was – before he once again jolted to attention and held his Keyblade out and at the ready (and why was he wielding Oathkeeper? His base Keyblade was still the Kingdom Key, after all, and even if he could sometimes, somewhat unreliably call on both Oathkeeper and Oblivion, he didn’t actually have the keychains needed to switch between blades like Sora had; those had been something Namine had been very hushed about and Riku had seen neither hide nor hair of them since his friend had gone into his sleep – but he knew for a fact that Roxas _definitely_ didn’t have any), clearly understanding now just _what_ Pete’s presence could mean, even if he himself wasn’t exactly _dangerous_.

“That’s right!” Pete stood proud, straightening his back as he jabbed at his chest with one thumb. “I’m one of her closest confidants! And that’s why I’m goin’ ‘round now, to help make up numbers for her army of Heartless!”

He turned back to the door he had been pounding on, muttering something about old men – but Riku wasn’t too concerned about that; the door looked like it had been weathering his attacks thus far just fine, and the words that Pete had spoken were honestly far more urgent. He exchanged looks with the other three in his party – Roxas looked just as befuddled as Riku himself felt, shrugging slightly when his eyes fell upon him; Goofy and Donald to the side looking just as confused, if slightly more concerned.

“Uh, Pete?” Goofy said. “You do know Maleficent’s, uh…” he trailed off, clearly not sure how to word it tactically as Pete turned back around to face them, his attention on Goofy, who was rubbing a hand at the back of his head, a nervous tic Riku was almost certain he’d picked up from Sora (and, _wow_ , didn’t _that_ thought hurt?), as Donald rolled his eyes at his friend’s hesitation.

“She’s dead,” Roxas stated bluntly, and Riku winced at the way Pete’s eyes widened as his attention jerked straight to the Nobody – whom Riku was cursing out in his head as his grip tightened once more on Soul Eater; _why_ couldn’t the idiot just _stay quiet?_

“What?” Roxas said, when they all stared at him. “She _is_.”

Riku resisted the urge to slam a palm to his face as he sighed, and watched Pete with narrowed eyes as he seemed to process Roxas’ words.

“Maleficent…dead?” He said. “Then – it was _you_ , wasn’t it!”

He pointed an accusing finger at Riku, who raised an eyebrow as Donald and Goofy snickered in the background.

“Oh, he might have had _something_ to do with it,” Roxas smirked out, his tone of voice silky, before Riku could even have a _chance_ to say anything – and as Pete began to shake with anger, growling out noises that he didn’t fully register, Riku shot Roxas a wide eyed look of betrayal. _You asshole,_ he thought, and picking up on that, Roxas smiled happily, eyes lit up like he had never seen before; smug as a cat that had gotten both the cream _and_ the canary.

“Heartless Squad!” Pete yelled out, and Riku drew his attention away from the staring contest taking place between himself and Roxas as the scent, the taste, of darkness thickened. “Round up!”

The now familiar sound of paths of darkness opening up swirled around them, ringing out into the air like glassy chimes splintering from heat, and Riku whirled, throwing himself away from the stairs as shadows pooled on the lawn surrounding the tower, and _Shadows_ clawed their way out of them.

His landing was light as he touched down on the ground, slicing his way through a single Shadow brave enough to break away from the pack, before stabbing through the others that followed after it with a movement that didn’t break his flow, only just peripherally aware of the others fighting around him; Roxas exhaling grunts with each swing of Oathkeeper Riku still wasn’t sure why he held, the smash of Goofy ramming his shield into the Shadows that crawled to close to him as he guarded Donald, Donald himself merely the sound of crackling lightning and the taste of ozone as he called down thunder to break apart the swarming Heartless.

It was over in what felt like seconds; not only were the numbers of the Heartless Pete had summoned all but laughable, especially compared to the amount they had faced in Hollow Bastion – they were also _far_ weaker, easy enough to beat even in their exhausted and battle weary states.

“Bah!” Pete, who had been – amazingly – smart enough to take advantage of their distraction to bolt down the stairs and in the direction of the edge of the world, spat at them. Roxas raised his keyblade and looked almost ready to go for round two against the quote unquote ‘big boss’ himself, but Riku stepped forward before he could make a move and shook his head. If nothing else, Roxas came by Sora’s hot headedness honestly enough.

“What were you doing here, Pete?” Donald quacked out the threat, shaking his staff menacingly as crystal filaments of ice floated around the air as he moved it, shaking the atmosphere with magic; a threat that wasn’t all too visually intimidating, but packed a punch behind it, especially when one took into consideration the look of pure, vicious anger on Donald’s face as he tapped one foot impatiently.

“Well, why don’t you go in, and find out!” Pete said. “It isn’t like it matters, anyway. The old man is probably already a Heartless by now!”

Weighing the urgency of going straight to Yen Sid and finding a safe way to keep an eye on Pete, Riku knew what his priorities were and what _he_ wanted to do – and after a year of mostly doing his own thing, listening to DiZ merely convenient because they essentially had the same end goal, it was hard to admit to himself that he couldn’t just make the decision on his own; he _needed_ to gain the others input. So, he sent a quick glance over his shoulder and saw that they all looked slightly uncertain – but with the exception of Roxas, who even when wearing a neutral expression looked like he was contemplating murder, he could read quite well from all of them that at that moment they cared little for Pete, especially when he had proven himself to not be all _that_ much of a threat – no, their focus was on Sora, and Mickey.

So, “Let’s go,” Riku said, and turned his back on Pete, who spluttered in surprise and something close to offense. “Yen Sid is waiting.”

Around him, the others nodded – and then, together, they pushed open heavy wooden doors that swung apart like oiled silk where they had stuck fast for Pete, and walked into the tower – the same doors swinging shut behind them before Pete could even _begin_ to try and scramble his way in, clicking shut with an echoing sort of finality that had Riku taking in a deep breath, struggling to relax and regain his composure as he forced his hands to unclench and sent Soul Eater away, back to the darkness whence it came – just as Roxas let Oathkeeper disperse into motes of silvery golden light, looking up and down the arching tower walls.

“It looks like it goes on forever,” he marvelled, head craned back to take in as much as possible of the spiral staircase that wound about the walls.

“Maybe it does,” Riku said, and began to make his way up – to the top of the tower, where Yen Sid – and, maybe, answers – awaited.


End file.
